Gamer (2009)
Average Rating: 4.2/10
Reviews Counted: 76
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 54
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.
Average Rating: 3.7/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 11
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.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 250,726
Movie Info
Reality and video games merge in this high-concept sci-fi action thriller from Crank creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. In the not too distant future, mind-control technology allows humans to control the actions and movements of other humans, allowing reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) to create the ultimate video game. It's called "Slayers," and it's a mass-scale, multiplayer online first-person shooter that's as controversial as it is popular. In the world of gamers,
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Cast
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Gerard Butler
Kable -
Amber Valletta
Angie -
Michael C. Hall
Ken Castle -
Kyra Sedgwick
Gina Parker Smith -
Logan Lerman
Simon -
Alison Lohman
Trace -
Terry Crews
Hackman -
Ramsey Moore
Gorge -
Chris "Ludacris" Bri...
Humanz Brother -
Aaron Yoo
Humanz Dude -
Jonathan Chase
Geek Leader -
Dan Callahan
Backup Geek -
Brighid Fleming
Delia -
Johnny Whitworth
Scotch -
Keith Jardine
Mean Slayer -
Michael Weston
Producer -
Joe Reitman
Board Op -
John DeLancie
Chief of Staff -
Milo Ventimiglia
Rick Rape -
Zoe Bell
Sandra -
John Leguizamo
Freek -
Noel Gugliemi
Upgrade Guard -
Jarvis W. George
Brown Soldier #1 -
Jai Stefan
Brown Soldier #2 -
Richard Machowicz
Blue Soldier #1 -
Ken Smith
Lifer -
Henry Hayashi
Razorblade -
Dylan Kenin
Train Guard -
Keith David
Agent Keith -
Maggie Lawson
Female News Host #1 -
James Roday
News Co-Host #1 -
Sam Witwer
Caseworker -
Rebekah Tarin
Dale -
Kate Mulligan
Sorority Chick -
Med Abrous
Pig Face Ron -
Ashley Rickards
2Katchapredator -
Nikita Ramsey
Kumdumpsta #1 -
Jade Ramsey
Kumdumpsta #2 -
Mimi Michaels
Stikkimuffin -
Sadie Alexandru
Society Victim -
Ariana Scott
Sissypuss Shelley -
Cynthia Robertson
Porn Girl -
Antoinette Antonio
Female News Host #2 -
Donnie Smith
News Co-Host #2 -
Lloyd Kaufman
Genericon -
Stephanie Mace
Geek Girl -
Adam Loeb
Ben Richard -
-
David Scott Rubin
Lab Tech -
Fred Loeb
Society Concierge
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All Critics (79) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (54) | DVD (3)
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.
Top CriticCrank's Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor direct with their usual flashy brio, and basso profundo Keith David has a sublime cameo as a cop indignant at the thought of a pistachio peanut butter sandwich.
In the press materials Mr. Butler informs us enthusiastically that the movie "has all the hallmarks of Neveldine's and Taylor's sick, yet genius minds." At least he's half right.
Bodies and buildings blow up but this is carnage of the most lacklustre sort, with any momentum petering out long before it's "game over."
It's a deeply cynical and joyless point of view, completely lacking in the winking visual style that made Crank worth a look.
Crass, nonstop action triumphs over narrative and character in this movie-length simulation of a video game.
Like so many movies, the set-up and presentation of Gamer is awesome. The story, characters and writing... not so much.
Wait for this one on Cable... jeez I'm saying that a lot. What is really going on in 2009?
Neveldine and Taylor simply spray their venom across the screen with little vision, once again making a friendly trip to the multiplex feel like undeserved torture.
What to make of short-attention-span artists satirizing a short-attention-span world? [Blu-ray]
Incoherent and interminable...
At times striking, and at others silly, and and yet at others sickening, but never too stupid, at least not compared to so much else flash and pop peddled to the masses these days.
a big, loud mess that loses its few good ideas in a morass of convoluted storytelling that it has, sadly, confused with stylish innovation
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.
The best that can be said about Gamer is "straight to DVD". It's a mind-numbing dud of a movie that in reality is nothing more than a big budget computer game splashed across the silver screen with an all star cast.
Audience Reviews for Gamer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Movies Like Gamer
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- Simon: Cool, huh?
- Kable: No. Not cool. Pay attention to the fucking game!
-
- Kable: What are you- twelve?
- Simon: I'm seventeen actually, thank you. This is unbelievable.
- Kable: How am I not dead yet?
- Simon: Because I'm a badass motherfucker.
-
- Geek Leader: Kable's made it through 28 battles. Every player in the game is trying to take him out.
- Ken Castle: Yeah, Kable is a perfect soldier. He's a tactical killing computer. His only vulnerability is the nanex itself. The delay between Simon's commands and Kable's ability to execute.
- Geek Leader: So why should this one be any different? Who controls him?
- Ken Castle: [long pause] No one.
-
- Ken Castle: What about you, sugar? I wonder if I might breach your firewall one of these days?
- Gina Parker Smith: You're bad!
- Board Op: He's good.
-
- Kable: I need you to get me something.
- Trace: What, Tillman?
- Kable: Drunk.
-
- Hackman: I've got no strings, so I have fun. I'm not tied up to anyone. They got strings, but you can see, there are no strings on me.
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The main thing is the fighting sequences which do look pretty good and 'game' like, you could be watching a frag fest like 'Halo' when watching this and it probably would be like this if it was done for real. The 'interactive computer net world' sections of the film are handled well too showing how the controllers use their real life 'players', it does come across as quite believable which really holds the film together. The other game shown in the film being a 'The Sims' style game which is also well done but maybe a tad too much cliched sex going on...but I guess that's kinda real too.
The plot is a mix of a few films sure but the director does manage to show other angles to the story which do relate well to today's interactive game world. Butler is also a good choice as the main 'slayer' and continues his good run as a hero but that's it for cast really.
Sounds like a real B-movie but its pretty decent and worth checking out, still can't quite beat the classic 'Running man' with Arnie though.