Game On!

The Cranksters Yank Puppet Strings in Violent Psychedelic Mess
by
Morgan P Salvo


The writing/directing team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, responsible for Crank 1 & 2, deliver an epic cartoon with a messy-mix of politics, corporate greed, mind control, internet porn, gore, bloody violence and wacky ideas. Forcing us to swallow a huge pill, Gamer oddly enough seems to work.
Beginning with, “some years from this exact moment”, the gist to the over stuffed plot is that thanks to brain-implanted nanotechnology, “Gamers” can now control interactive death-row inmates that serve as real-life avatars. Anonymous users fight it out on rubble-strewn battlefields in a virtual reality game. The convicts battle each other in the biggest globally viewed TV game show of all time entitled, “Slayers”. If one con makes it through 30 battles he is supposedly released. So far no one's been that fortunate. There’s a stark immediacy to the “Slayers” world, depicted in grimy washed out whites and grays resembling a post-industrial wasteland. The combat scene grittiness pays off and keeps it a mortar burst away from being too corny.
Another game option is a neon-colored new wave-looking world called “Society” wherein paid actors slathered in lavish, scantily clad getups are wandering around to be commanded by internet slouches. Here’s where the desperate can whore themselves out to virtual deviants who want a taste of anything they choose, generally predictable, pandering sexual acts. Yes its porn.

The subplots involves Kable (Gerard Butler) a wrongly accused man who is three battles short of obtaining freedom; his goal to be reunited with his wife (Amber Valletta) who has succumbed to a life in the psychedelic world of “Society”. A 17 year old cocksure teen superstar Simon (Logan Lerman) is “playing” Kable in his swinging virtual reality pad and wants to win the big game to score tons of chicks. Then there’s Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), a behind-the-scenes multi-billionaire megalomaniac who invented the brain controlling product called Nanex that allows the mental control over people. His brainchild is “Slayers,” charging the entire world to watch via pay-per-view. Commercial talk show host Gina Parker Smith (Kyra Sedgwick) has a sellout agenda and the subversive “Humanz” run by Brother (Ludicrous) are hacking into the TV, trying to dismantle the system.

The acting walks a fine line between okay and pathetic. Butler goes overboard, deeply grimacing to convince us he means business. Sedgwick looks and acts hideous playing the glitter-faced Sally Jessie Raphael-gone-slut-host. Hall (Six Feet Under/Dexter) a durable actor having fun here, but his redneck’s twang ruins any credibility as he can’t maintain a believable accent. Cameos are supplied by John Leguizamo, Terry Crews, Keith David and Alison Lohman (Drag Me to Hell).
Resembling Death Race, Running Man and Freejack Neveldine & Taylor remain the kings of throwing everything at you including the kitchen sink. There’s the standard confusing camerawork, quick cuts, aggressive swish pans, frenetic seizure-inducing visuals amidst serious narrative holes, but the film also inspires appreciation for its willingness to embrace the bizarre. Yet somehow is most convincing when taking on more serious tones. Still proudly amoral, the gratuitous gross-out scenes and the dialogue can’t rise above the second grade with the overabundance of potty-mouth humor and voluminous cursing. Some scenes are lame and unnecessary juxtaposed by some cool mind-blowing stuff. For example, Gamer contains the best use of the word “OOPS!” and the worst use of a Sammy Davis JR. song.
Basically this movie asks the questions, “What IS too much power?” and “How can we safeguard against the rapid onslaught of technology?” Drawing cartoonish parallels to our present out-of-hand world, the filmmakers cop out to the ultimate good guy vs. bad guy scenario. Human decency shall prevail. With stabs at topical relevance draped in trashy pop culture, Gamer exists only to provide fast, earsplitting, sexist video game violence and that’s not always a bad thing.

Gamer
Starring Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick
Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
2 stars