Adam Foidart "Gamer" is a mean-spirited, misogynist, poorly edited and poorly shot action film. The characters are cliché and the world the story is set in so vaguely defined that it's impossible to understand what is going on. I'm not usually one to criticize a film for feeling familiar because if you look deeply enough, a lot of people take inspiration from myths or common story elements, but when your movie brings in nothing new and doesn't even feel like it's trying, I call foul.The film is set in 2024. The gaming industry has been revolutionized because now, instead of playing regular video games people can command prisoners to fight to the death in a "real life" video game called Slayers. If you don't feel like having convicts fight each other to the death? Well that's OK because you can also have other human beings dance around, perform dangerous stunts, have gratuitous sex or embarrass each other in a tamer game called "Society" where poor people get paid to have their bodies controlled by others. Our hero is John "Kable" Tillman (Gerard Butler), the most popular pawn in the game of Slayers. There's something sinister about this futuristic society, and if the probably evil Castle (Michael C. Hall) is to be taken down, Kable will have to take control of his own body! What irritated me about this picture is that the story just feels like an excuse to have stuff happen. Really important elements of this world are never explained, they're just there and you have to take for granted that it works the way it does. I don't mean in the same way that a far-out premise like say... "The Running Man" either. I'm talking about stuff that could plausibly happen but is presented in a way that makes no sense. For example, the rules or goals of the Slayers game are never established. What is the objective of the game? Do the slayers have to run to a shelter before they are killed? Do you have to murder a certain amount of people? Is there a time limit? You never find out. How has Slayers revolutionized video games anyways? It's not like the players can feel what their convicts can feel, and games can't be started at any time of the day (they're televised) so how is a video game that you can pick up for cheaper, play at any time not strictly better? This is a tale that doesn't care about explaining anything or developing the world it's set in so it's really hard to care about anything that's going on. Stuff just happens so that we can have people kill each other.I'll give the movie this: if the objective was to make a game that feels like a deplorable video game, mission accomplished! The characters actually feel like video game personalities because your immediate impression of them is everything that defines them. The villain is very obviously evil (even though it's supposed to be a mystery) for example and he does that typical thing that every bad villain does in a bad action movie. I'm just saying that you would never see Mr. Glass from "Unbreakable" pick a fight with Arnold Schwarzenegger because one is a brainy villain, the other is an action hero... but that doesn't stop our Machiavellian sociopath! Kable isn't any better. He's set up as a killer but anyone with half a brain can see that this is once again, one of these movies where our anti-hero isn't an actual anti hero, he's just a good guy that's been misunderstood. Nearly every other character is totally disposable, and not the least bit memorable. Unless they're a woman because those are all killed or sexually exploited by the time the credits roll. Females in "Gamer" are more like props than actual people. I was actually really disturbed by some of the events in the film. Want a hint of some of the distasteful developments? How about I give you an easy one: there's a character called "Rick Rape" in the "tamer" Society game! There are a few scenes that have good action segments and there are a couple of laughs here and there but there's no real audience for this movie. You would think that this action film would be made to cater to video game enthusiasts, but they're all portrayed as unlikeable sexual deviants that would willingly sexually assault or murder human beings for kicks. "Gamer" goes out of its way to show how horrible it is to get entertainment out of seeing human beings being killed, so people who revel in violence and gore (fans of action or horror movies) won't get much entertainment out of this lecture either. There's no need to see this when there are actual good movies based on the same concept easily available. I came to thoroughly hate "Gamer". (Dvd, July 14, 2012)

bowmanblue Okay, I know that this is really a 'Gerard Butler' film, but you can't talk about Gamer without mentioning TV's most charming serial killer, Dexter (played by Michael C Hall). Here, we see a side of him which wouldn't be seen dead in Miami Metro PD. He talks with a southern US accent, sings and dances while he brainwashes hordes of badguys to do his bidding - he really lets his 'dark passenger' run wild! But anyway, enough of the baddie. We're really here to watch Gerard Butler as a convict who's forced to allow himself to be controlled by a computer game playing kid in a violent game of death. And it is violent.The shoot outs are pretty well done and there's plenty of action and sexual depravity to keep the (mainstream) masses amused.Don't expect too much in the way of a story or character development, but were you really thinking there would be in a Gerard Butler film (bless him)? It's style over substance. Which is a bad thing if you're looking for a deep and meaningful film. However, I was expecting rampant bloodshed and plenty of fighting and I got just that (plus Dexter behaving like he was on drugs). What more could I wish for? Well, apart from a coherent plot, but, hey, you can't have everything in life! http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

AverageStalker This film is pure trash. No characters are given any depth whatsoever- not even the protagonist. Every person in the movie is basically made out to be a sadistic, murder loving, soulless beast.If such a program as "society" were to actually be created, it would serve one purpose alone: sex. That's all people would care about it for. That being said, murder follows sex. So if, as the movie claims, "people who are being controlled are paid to be controlled", you would basically be agreeing to be a human sex doll that would contract HIV within a few days and have a pretty solid shot at being murdered in a torturous manner. I don't even think the most destitute and desperate of people would step forward at that opportunity. I'd rather rob people than allow myself to be controlled by a teenager for the means of having a train run on me.Then comes the issue of "slayers". "They are death row inmates," says the movie. But if you compare the number of gamers in our world to the number of people awaiting execution, you are left with an absurd ratio that immediately indicates that such a premise is completely impossible. It is impossible to suspend your disbelief during this movie.The special effects are garbage. Casualties are treated as blood-filled water balloons that burst when hit. The blood looks more like play-DOE than it does liquid. The "wife" doesn't have a single line of dialog. The majority of society doesn't seem to care about any of the prisoner's struggles because they are "convicted", and yet all of the world has a sudden epiphany at the end and changes sides. Even the names of the factions are corny. 'Humanz'? Really? You couldn't think of a better name for the resistance? The "bad guy" is such a bad actor that I truly believe I could do better myself. Laugh randomly and make crappy puns, got it. Show no emotion and give no logical explanation for your sociopath behavior. Oh, I almost forgot: one does not simply chug an entire bottle of vodka, run across a battlefield, vomit into a car engine and then urinate into it, and then use that as fuel to drive away. The logistics of this are horrendous.I can't even bring myself to give this film 2 stars. I'd give it 0 if I could. The very premise of it is ridiculous. The dialog is extremely over-dramatic and poorly written. There isn't a single good quote in the entire movie.AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Forgive my spelling errors as IMDb spell-check refused to allow me to entire the correct spelling of some words.

suecat-1 If you like watching a huge fat man getting off via virtual reality, then this is a movie for you. If you want to see lots of bare breasts, mostly exposed derrières, and hot actors, then this is a movie for you.If however, you want a movie with a plot, developed characters, and some decent acting, then you many want to pass on this one.Lots of sex- and violence-related scenes, way too many holes in how the premise of the movie actually works, aka...plenty of time to raid the fridge.I love Gerard Butler, but this is beneath his abilities. I've seen him in a half dozen other films and he shined. Here, you spend half the movie trying to figure out why he would ever have agreed to filming this movie. Maybe just a run at more money, or maybe he didn't know the reality of the direction of this film.It is a violent shoot'em up kind of flick and I did watch it to the end. I'd never spend my time watching it again, though. Nuff said.