a big, loud mess that loses its few good ideas in a morass of convoluted storytelling that it has, sadly, confused with stylish innovation
Gamer (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:68
Fresh:20
Rotten:48
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: With all of the hyperkinetic action and none of the flair of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's earlier work, Gamer has little replay value.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for frenetic sequences of strong brutal violence throughout, sexual content, nudity and language.
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:Sep 4, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $20,488,579
Synopsis:
GAMER is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online...
GAMER is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online games: people play people...for keeps. Mind-control technology is widespread, and at the heart of the controversial games is its creator, reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). His latest brainchild, the first-person shooter game "Slayers," allows millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death.
Kable (300's Gerard Butler) is the superstar and cult hero of the ultraviolent "Slayers." Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology.
GAMER stars Gerard Butler (300, THE UGLY TRUTH), Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”), Amber Valletta (TRANSPORTER 2), John Leguizamo (RIGHTEOUS KILL, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13), with Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, and Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”).
Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Lakeshore Entertainment/Lionsgate Production. GAMER is a Neveldine/Taylor Film. --© Lionsgate
Starring: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Kyra Sedgwick
Starring: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Kyra Sedgwick, Amber Valletta, Logan Lerman, Alison Lohman, Terry Crews, John Leguizamo, Zoe Bell, John De Lancie, Aaron Yoo
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Screenwriter: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Producer: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright, Skip Williamson
Composer: Robert Williamson, Geoff Zanelli
Studio: Lions Gate Films
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Reviews for Gamer
A streak of genius runs through this dystopian vision of a world in where VR games are played with real people ... it touches some exposed nerves before retreating into clichés.
Gamer feels like a video cheapie that just time warped in from the 1990s . . .
Like the 'Crank' films, this is an absurdly exaggerated, outlandishly crass and alternately inventive and appalling depiction of a man violently fighting to liberate himself from the forces that seek to control him...
An injection of adrenaline straight to the eye – which isn’t entirely a bad thing.
If you are a gamer, and like shooters, science fiction, action, and wouldn't consider gratuitous boob shots gratuitous, you won't feel short-changing on leaving the cinema after watching Gamer.
Can I get back the ninety minutes of my life that I squandered sitting through this miasmic upchuck of techno sludge? What was the story again?
With its nano-technology synching different brains together, spyware programs attached to DNA, and a double dose of bad taste served up with a side-dish of splattered brains and skull fragments, Gamer is still mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
It won’t win points for originality or depth, but the Crank boys are still on their game as far as sex, violence and sheer unapologetic excess go. High concept, high octane, highly likely to end up a post-pub staple.
While packed with guns, girls and gore, there's none of the gleeful knowingness that made their earlier films such guilty pleasures.
Edited with the finesse of a toddler on a sherbet dib-dab rush, the film dashes from one over-stylised battle sequence to the next.
The action sequences are disappointing, there's a distinct lack of wit or invention in the direction and it's also impossible to care about the characters when they're so thinly sketched.
The film is a cacophonous mess without a single interesting character.
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor deserve some credit for being upfront about their desire to deliver purely adrenaline-driven action cinema and for making it look brilliant.
Were Stanley Kubrick and Russ Meyer alive and their minds merged "Being John Malkovich"-style, the clash of their ids and egos might yield "Gamer." It will make you feel putrid, but it's satire that's sadistic, salacious and audaciously entertaining.
attempts to lure audiences in with its fast-action but also provides a surprisingly thoughtful commentary on control and freedom and the means some will go to achieve it.
Puts the viscera in visceral but a thought-provoking exploration of our increasingly disconnected society in drag as mindless action.
Takes itself far too seriously, saying nothing of timeliness or value in a banally overblown fashion.
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have slowly started garnering actual critical consideration for their Crank movies; with Gamer, they make another good case for taking them seriously.
Poor editing makes Gamer overlong, and the negative portrayal of gamers is as hard to swallow as the cheesy plot.
Latest News for Gamer
September 04, 2009:
Neveldine and Taylor Talk Gamer ![]()
It's a happy weekend for action lovers any time Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have a movie heading into theaters -- and in a new interview with Collider, the writing/directing... More...
July 02, 2009:
The Friday Harvest: Ice Age 3, Gamer, Daybreakers, and more!
More...
May 25, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
More...
May 11, 2009:
This movie has undergone more title changes than Madonna adopting Third-World children! ![]()
More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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