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177 out of 231 people found the following review useful: Know what you should expect, 6 September 2009 Author: deadisalive-1 from United States
My movie philosophy: don't blame a movie for not being what it's not meant to be.To enjoy a movie, you don't need the movie to be amazing, great, or even good (sometimes). You just need to know what you should expect.So what do you expect from gamer? If you want gore, violence, blood, nudity...go ahead and see it. If you want Gerald Butler running around shooting people, fighting people, baring his muscles and looking tough like action heroes do, go ahead and see it. If you want Michael C. Hall playing an evil guy trying to take over the world, and baring his muscles, and even showing off his Broadway background a little bit, go ahead and see it. (but you'd be a little disappointed since he shows up less than you'd expect as this is quite a short movie, only 1.5 hours). Even if you want to see some hot lesbian actions probably imagined by very non-lesbian people, or a cute teenage boy who probably isn't supposed to do anything other than being a cute teenage boy...go ahead and see it.But If you want go in and find some surprise- and twist-filled plot, some complicated multi-layer character development, or some brilliant insight into society or even humanity, then no, don't go see Gamer.The problem is, if you are really expecting the later things I mentioned, I think it's partially you fault that you are going to spend one and a half hour of your precious time sitting in a theater suffering from this movie and then hate it with a passion. Because really, those aren't what Gamer is meant to be, even though some people may actually believe that they are.The reality is that while not what many would call a great (or even good) movie, Gamer could be thoroughly enjoyed, as long as you know what it should be. Because I think it's everything it set out to be. You just need to (maybe grudgingly) accept what it's supposed to be and either enjoy it for what it is, or realize that it's not a movie for your high level of intelligence and ignore it completely.
125 out of 184 people found the following review useful: You want action...You got action, 23 October 2008 Author: peter johnson from United States
Was looking forward to seeing what the directors of Crank would do next and they didn't disappoint. Non-stop action from the very start with awesome camera work and a unique story line. This movie takes video gaming to the extreme and makes you wonder if there are any boundaries to what man will do to amuse themselves! Michael. C. Hall is a hoot to watch and the singing and dancing scene was hilarious and genius in a movie like this. It had the feel of the Matrix/Running Man and didn't take itself too seriously which is why I loved it. Also if you play video games you will enjoy the scenes in "Society" and the characters that are portrayed. This is without doubt a modern day action blockbuster with hints of the 80' and 90's classics. If you like action and something new go and see this you wont be disappointed!!
69 out of 121 people found the following review useful: Three films in one -- nuanced & stimulating in every way, 5 September 2009 Author: erhmntx from Austin, TX
The premise of "Gamer" is resoundingly simple: What if gamers could control actual people? Coming into the theater, due to the simple premise and embarrassingly poor marketing of the film, I was expecting a brainless, adolescently indulgent action flick. What I got was a mind-blowing surprise."Gamer" is three films in one: (1) Subculture examination of the gamer ethos; (2) Pulse-pounding action movie; (3) Thought-provoking science fiction piece.As others have mentioned, this film truly brings the gamer experience to the big screen. The battle shots bring MMORPG first-person shooters to real life, and the Sims/Second Life-like scenes played just as true, right down to the robotic, singlemindedly determined motion of the characters. The directors obviously spent many long hours gaming in preparation for this film (or just for fun).As an action film, "Gamer" holds its own, delivering plenty of fights, battle scenes, and adrenaline-soaked moments. Hollywood knows how to do action, and in "Gamer" you see some of what it has learned from films like "The Matrix", "Saving Private Ryan", and others. I won't say too much, but there's a particularly juicy scene involving some kind of giant snowplow."Gamer" shines most brightly, and most unexpectedly, as a science fiction piece. The film interweaves themes familiar to our 2009 reality, including economic desperation, prison overcrowding, the fallout of materialism, and technology naively promoted as a panacea for society's ills."Gamer" shows us a society addicted to technology at the expense of facing reality. Masses of gamers, locked in adolescence or enraptured by the promise of mindless self-indulgence without consequence, living solely through their avatars. Desperate segments of society, the poor and criminal, who have surrendered control of their bodies to the will of gamers. A populace that embraces televised war games as a solution to prison overcrowding, rather than addressing the true causes of mass imprisonment. The megalomaniacal pushers of technology running largely unchecked as the masses surrender control.Michael C. Hall delivers a breakout silver screen performance as the multifaceted Ken Castle -- after his great work in Six Feet Under, this is another power move for his career. Kyra Sedgwick nails her cougar reporter character, who begins the film as another no-conscience profiteer but becomes more through the course of the film. And Gerard Butler plays the hero archetype admirably, as every bit of the man who his spoiled teenage gamer-puppeteer cannot become."Gamer" may end up as a cult classic, a slowly growing mainstream success, or could stay underrated indefinitely, but it's definitely worth a view.
37 out of 61 people found the following review useful: Decent adrenaline rush with an interesting sci-fi twist, 4 September 2009 Author: cadillac20 from Culver City, California
The previews of Gamer didn't terribly appeal to me. However, after reading some initial reviews and seeing that the people over at Joblo found it to be pretty decent, I thought I would check it out. Was it what I thought it would be? Kind of. Was it entertaining? Sure.Gamer is, first and foremost, mostly a brainless action film in the vein of Crank and other hyperkinetic actioneers, which is presented in fast, somewhat jittery cuts. There's plenty of ultraviolence here and a world of uber-tech that revolves around mind control and the next phase in adult entertainment. While the premise seems a bit silly, with some people subjecting themselves to more demeaning elements, it is a bit thought provoking, which is kind of nice in an action film. It does edge close to Schwarzenegger's Running Man, although this film stands on its own with a stern Gerard Butler and over-the-top Michael C Hall.Still, you can't help but feel detached from everything. The film rushes itself, finally slowing down to a decent pace at the end, with an ending that is very fitting and entertaining. However, most of it is a mix between speedy action and lackluster dramatic scenes. Why Leguizamo is in this film, I have no clue. There is enough action and techno-gunk here, however, to make for an entertaining 90 minutes. There's also plenty of T&A, which is rare in films these days, although I found most of it to be not veyr attractive. The interesting thing is that the film does do a good job of creating a world that could potentially exist. No matter how disturbing some elements in the film may be, they seem to have an air of truth, and that elevates this film just-above-average.Although it is certainly a film with many short comings, it's entertaining and presents an interesting world with some scary realizations. Let us hope that, in our lifetime, we don't see this sort of thing happen.
78 out of 143 people found the following review useful: About As Entertaining As Having Your Legs Amputated, 10 September 2009 Author: Stormypoo from United States
I was really looking forward to watching this movie. The storyline was promising and i actually like Gerard Butler. After half an hour im thinking to myself ... OK this has GOTTA get better, but sadly it didn't, it got a whole lot worse tho. What started as a movie with a decent plot rapidly turned into an extended marilyn manson video, it made absolutely no sense, the characters were about as deep as a dwarfs bathtub and at one point i actually had to stop myself from gouging my eyes out with a rusty spoon. I, honestly, cannot think of anyone who would find this movie entertaining in any shape or form and can say with complete seriousness that I've had more fun at the dentist ... having a root canal
40 out of 69 people found the following review useful: an abstract view of how users interact with their avatars, 6 September 2009 Author: calevenice from United States
The movie was fairly good. Even though slayers should have been more defined, it did explain the basics of it (make it to the save point alive). The movie being "abstract" worked very well for everything besides the slayers sequences, but those were surprisingly short. Something that I thought they did very well though is showing how the user interacts with their character. In MMO's today, you have a-holes who will screw up other people's fun and during one of the society scenes, there is an example of this with the roller blading. Its made even more powerful by people laughing at other people 's injuries, disgracing of dead bodies, etc. because its the icons (avatars) getting abused, not the users.From an academic standpoint, this movie is great since it shows off how sick and uncaring people can be when its not their bodies being abused or shot at.Anyways, if you want to see this movie, I warn you that there it is rated R for good reasons. It made me think that they should separate the R-rating into R1 and R2 or R and RR. This is because many R movies are lite-R's (some swearing, some nudity, some blood, but nothing out-of-control so to speak) and many other R movies are heavy-R's (i.e. saw, many cheesy horror flicks, and this movie)
30 out of 50 people found the following review useful: Its offensively stereotypical, 12 September 2009 Author: Gregory from Estonia, Tallinn
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I must say I play videogames, I go to work, I have friends with who I hang out outside of my house, I'm not perfect and was offended by this movie.I have no idea what the creators thought to achieve with this, but a film with so many stereotypes and big explosions is testing the audience tolerance limits. I guess Hollywood only plays Team Fortress and Halo skirmishes, never hearing of a single player mode where you try to avoid problems just to finish it. Though the film tries to portray how bad the entertainment businesses are, it fails by being too ridiculous. Oh, and did I mention it takes the word "slavery" to the next level, with the entire world loving this travesty? Get ready for a roller-coaster of redundant plot holes.To cut the story short, the military invents unstable mind control, but shuts it down. Chief scientist resurrects it on his own to sell and makes a business empire as a front to take over the world. Prime unit escapes, exposes the plan to takeover the world and kills the scientist for revenge. Wow, how original. And the ending doesn't explain anything; it's a classic "driving away with the family" that tells noting about the damage done or what will follow. Ugh.Let's hypothetically say you acquire a way to control people actions like video game characters. What would you do with this tech? Waste it on videogames or make people just give you money for no reason? Why not go and take over the world one man at a time? Why would you complicate things by selling it to retarded people? Any army in the world would pay you more for this tech as well as give you subjects to install it in. And while we are on the subject of soldiers, how many times do you normally die in a first person shooter game if you are a pro player? And how many times did you die to become a pro? Every beginner will go through lives like a minigun through bullets.You even get to see the game run at third person perspective… When you play as a real person? What the f***?.The soundtrack is terrible even for a terrible movie. The parody of SecondLife or something with the song "The Bad Touch" will be just one of the good reasons to walk out of the theater.The acting. Oh was it horrible and modern stereotypical. An evil "genius" who looks like he couldn't invent Tetris, a bad ass hero who has the hart of gold, a shrimpy sissy hacker kid and so on. And their lines, ugh... Oh, the movie is full of this cr**. Acting school or not, anyone can do this terrible.Terrible games may sell, but they don't last. That's why we have lots of people on YouTube reviewing them and getting lots of subscribers in the process. If you played more than one game in your life, you know adapting to new rules, challenges, puzzles and physics is key. Here it's just one chaotic massive skirmish, explosions and a cra**y plot. If you get attached to any of the characters, you probably need your head examined.Maybe as a book the story would be good, but it would not be a bestseller made into a movie. If you feel empty, I recommend a better 1987 film "Running man" with the same plot ideas and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
18 out of 28 people found the following review useful: What a load of rubbish, 27 September 2009 Author: movieman89-2 from United Kingdom
I did read comments about it before seeing it, and heard that it was bad. I went to the movies to see it a few nights ago with a friend. I have to say I agree with the bad comments.The story went OK at first but then just got completely random and made no sense. Afterwords I had t ask my friend 'is this in the real world or is it the game?'. We need more explaining about everything.There was no connection with the characters and we didn't know anything about them.The filming and the editing was terrible thought out the action scenes, I thought I was getting a headache. I thought I was watching Quantam of Solace (which was also rubbish).I have found out the most stupid scene of all the film I watched in my lifetime. The main character downed a bottle of vodka before fighting. He goes to a car during the action, I throws up in the fuel tank and urinates in it and the car somehow works!, how stupid is that? Even the after the ending was done, I asked myself 'what was that all about?' I don't mind Gerard Butler but I thought his acting was dull in this. I cant say much about the others because again we don't know anything of the characters.I preferred the trailers before the film started.I wouldn't recommend this it all, I would rather rent it on DVD when it's out.
17 out of 27 people found the following review useful: The best part: In the beginning where they showed trailers., 25 October 2009 Author: Sirus_the_Virus from United States
Gerard Butler stars in Gamer, the worst film of the year. I was forced to sit through this crap though I didn't want to. The story itself is kind of interesting. But the film, it was just so wrong. Everything about this movie was a mess. It has mindless action, horrible acting, and the movie is just weird. Nobody wants to see a naked fat guy controlling a chick and having her get raped. I told you the movie was wrong. The film takes place in a futuristic world. In which people are controlled by other people like in a video game. It's a survival game. A person has to get through thirty deadly matches before they are not controlled. Kable(played by Gerard Butler)actually gets out. Even after the creator of the program(played by Michael C. Hall) hires a tough guy to kill him so then he can't get out. He has done that to every person because he wants to control them. But Kable gets out, and starts doing a bunch of stuff, including trying to find his wife. Now as I said the plot of the film is kind of interesting. But the movie is just plain stupid. The film has appearances by John Leguizamo and even Allison Lohman. Kyra Sedwick also stars as a talk show host. The moments with those stars actually had me interested. But the film was really stupid. This movie is just a dragging mess. That is the last time I will ever let my sister choose a movie again. Oh my god this movie was so horrible. I originally thought Land of the lost was the worst movie of the year. But it is official. Gamer is the most dreadful movie of the year. They could've done it a lot better because it had a good story. Instead, they made it blow. This is a game I would never rent. I was happy when the game was over. If you see it, you will feel the same way. Gamer is just a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, film.Gamer:1/2 out of ****
9 out of 13 people found the following review useful: Seen it before. Twice., 17 September 2009 Author: red_jacket0707 from United Kingdom
In "The Running Man", an innocent man was framed in order that he is arrested and has to enter a deadly game show. Upon winning this game show he would win his freedom, but the powers that be attempt to ensure that this does not happen.In "Death Race", an innocent man was framed in order that he is arrested and has to enter a deadly car race. Upon winning this car race he would win his freedom, but the powers that be attempt to ensure that this does not happen.In "Gamer", an innocent man yadda yadda yadda, you get the idea.the idea itself has been done to death and I knew this before entering the cinema. I hoped to see at least a form of entertainment for an hour and a half, but sadly was met with a confusing mess.I liked the idea of introducing a new spin on the "Man has to win his freedom by..." genre, but it just seemed such a mess. they had all these ideas and just threw them in with no thought process at all. it was just disjointed all the way through.It just wasn't done as well as the other two i mentioned - which aren't the most amazing films in their own right anyway, but fairly enjoyable.i suppose the action set pieces were fairly well done, and i like gerard butler's claim to be Hollywood's new hard guy. he can act better than jason statham. just. his accent is just as dodgy though.a disappointment.
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