Gamer Review

Gamer, a movie staring Gerard Butler of 300 and The Ugly Truth fame, is about a man trapped in a game controlled by another human.

This movie isn't for everyone. As the title implies, people who like games- or more specifically video games- will find some enjoyment out of this movie.

The movie takes place in the not so distant future. The world is in utter chaos, with the prison system on the verge of collapse. Michael C. Hall, known best for Dexter, plays billionaire software mogul Ken Castle. He has created this virtual reality where people can vicariously control every movement of another human being.

Castle has created two worlds, the first called Social, which is what it sounds like, a place for people to get together and mingle with each other. They can be anyone they want to be and live out any fantasy they wish. When I first saw this, it made me think of an application for Sony's Playstation 3. The application, called Home, allows you to create an avatar and be who or whatever you want. But in Gamer, it is taken to the extreme. All Social really is is a place to have sex and show gratuitous amounts of nudity. I understand the message that they were getting across, but it served no purpose whatsoever.

The second world, Slayer, is where most of the movie takes place. The players that are in Slayer are death row inmates who have an opportunity to be set free if they win and stay alive. They must win 30 sessions to be free. No one has beaten it before. Instead, most of the people die in over-the-top ways, with a good number of head shots, might I add. Gerard Butler's character, Kable, has won twenty-seven matches, with only three more to go. The matches consist of Kable shooting people in various way, a-la the video game Call of Duty 4.

While this movie is supposed to appeal to gamers, it does to some degree, while also failing miserably. The movie carries along with it the stigma that is attached to people who play video games, that it is only kids or fat adults that don't have anything better to do with their lives. There also is a dance number in the movie. I have no idea why it was in there, but I guess it was supposed to add some comic relief. It just didn't fit the style of the movie.

If you are someone who likes to play video games, then this movie might appeal to you more than just the average moviegoer. It had some good action scenes, as well as everything else in between. Overall it just another movie with a lot of killing.

7.5 out of 10