DVD Reviews

Gamer – Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Jan 24, 2010, 11:50 GMT

GAMER is a high-concept action thriller set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created the controversial form of entertainment, "Slayers," a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies - online - in front of a global audience. ...more

‘Gamer’ is the latest pic from the sensation-hammering auteurs of the ‘Crank’ franchise, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. This time out, they try to add a little smart satire into their ultraviolence mix but end up giving us more a boneheaded parable that lifts wholesale from past, better sources.

None too subtly attempting to put a mirror to our current state of online vidgame dependence - be it the storming into war rush of the ‘Call of Duty’ games or the anonymity-fueled exploitation craziness of ‘The Sims’ and Playstation’s online ‘Home’ network where hundreds of strangers co-mingle under the identity of self-designed avatars. It’s a fair idea to lampoon, but unfortunately Neveldine and Taylor don’t really have the restraint to pull it off or make it consistently unique.

They end up slapping that premise on a variety of already well-tread ideas where you’ll recognize everything from ‘Gladiator’ to most obviously ‘The Running Man’ - the latter of which the ‘Gamer’ world most closely resembles.

The film is ‘set some years from this exact moment’ in a violent entertainment-crazed world where millions wait with bated breath for the next worldwide pay-for-view ‘Slayers’ event.

‘Slayers’ is definitely the next step in first-person vidgame shooters where death row convicts are plucked to participate in death matches as avatars controlled by (no doubt wealthy) gamers, generally spoiled teenagers. One such convict is the latest star of game, Kable (Gerard Butler), a soldier who has survived 27 battles with three more to go before he secures his freedom.

Kable is controlled by the teenage Simon (Logan Lerman), a pasty-faced tech whiz who is barraged with offers to take over Kable but refuses no doubt due to the fame involved. When Simon secures a new upgrade that allows him to communicate directly with Kable, Kable is able to convince Simon to disconnect from him and let him control his own actions - which would allow him to break out of the game’s border. On the run, he quickly reunites with his wife Angie (Amber Valletta) who has volunteered to be an avatar in ‘Society’, the ‘ultimate sin environment’.

Controlled by an obese, nude grotesque who sits in the dark surrounded by monitors and dips waffles into syrup, Angie in ‘Society’ roams in scantily clad outfits where he instructs her to perform any number of degrading sexual acts.

These scenes end up the most clever as we get a disturbing look at who exactly may be controlling these hot chick avatars. Successfully escaping, Kable does manage to reach his wife but has to ultimately come face to face with ‘Slayers’ creator Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). Castle is a billionaire vidgame mastermind who quite literally pulls all the strings and isn’t so eager to see his star player go.

If you’re one of the thousands of Modern Warfare 2 junkies out there right now, you may be able to recognize something of yourself in the game and therefore come away with sort of visceral entertainment value. With Gamer, the filmmakers plunge you into what exactly these first-person deathmatches might feel like as live-action.

But the stylized action is all fluff and doesn’t leave an impression nor does it have the cult ludicrousness of the ‘Crank’ films - which also applies to the monosyllabic Butler as Kable. Not allowed any of the crazy antics of Statham as Chev Chelios, Butler manages to be less charismatic than your average vidgame protagonist.

Supporting players such as Alison Lohman, Kyra Sedgwick and Ludacris are fine but are equally without parts to play. Michael C. Hall (of ‘Dexter’ fame) gets the showiest role as the egomaniacal Castle where he enjoyably lets loose during the climax. We basically end up with a clever premise looking for a movie.

The film is presented with a 1.85:1 1080p AVC encode and technically, this is a fantastic-looking film with amazing depth, color and detail. The action ‘Slayer’ scenes are presented in mostly gray tones with the ‘Society’ scenes presented with eye-popping color and both are presented with high-def demo reference quality.

The DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio track is equally impressive with a surround sound track that really plunges you into the first-person action. If the action itself is a bit underwhelming, it certainly looks and sounds great.

As is true with most Lionsgate theatrical releases, they really load up on the special features. First up is an aud commentary from Writers/Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor and Actors Amber Valletta, Alison Lohman and Terry Crews and despite all the participants doesn’t really add up to much.

The actors talk about their underwritten characters and the directors seem to be only mildly interested. More interesting is the I-Con Mode, an ‘Expanded Visual Commentary’ where Neveldine and Taylor are able to appear and stop and rewind the film and pinpoint certain areas of interest. It’s a really cool feature that reminds me of what Zach Synder did with ‘Watchmen’.

‘Gamer Cheat Codes’ is a ‘Specialized Commentary/Making of Pods Accessible Throughout the Film’ where icons will appear throughout the film where you can choose from a particular list that will pop up a picture in picture window. Another cool feature to check out.

‘Inside the Game’ is a whopping eighty minute doc that really sheds a light on what the filmmakers were attempting. I personally think they failed but there’s no denying they really tried to make the best film they could.

This is actually one of the meatier making-of docs I’ve seen in a while and definitely worth a watch even if you didn’t like the film.

‘First Person Shooter: The Evolution of Red’ is relatively quicker featurette on the cool Red camera that the filmmakers used to present such a kick-ass high-def image. We also get a couple theatrical trailers, BD Touch accessibility which allows you specific special-feature access through your iPhone and iPod, Lionsgate Live a new menu system which presents exclusive content like wallpapers and ringtones, D-Box functionality and a Bonus Digital Copy.

While I can’t say much for the film, props to Lionsgate for really going above and beyond on the special features, additions that really add to the value of the package and make this a near recommendation just on tech specs and extras alone.