Gamer Movie: A Gruesome Portrait Of A Shifting Subculture

Gamer: an unapologetic, hedonistic use of mind control, fantastical space age weaponry and pleather. Vivid, destruction blindsided my view for nearly two hours and is quite possibly the future manifesto of MMOs; at least that is what Gamer's writer/director Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor would have you believe. The two are well known for their previous movies Crank and Crank 2 whose high energy, ultra violent brand of action summon a specific type of person to the theatre. This time in lieu of Jason Statham we get the delectable Gerard Butler sporting his intrepid brand of butch in televised, live firefights as one of several death row inmates fighting for their chance at freedom. There is one catch. Each participant is without his or her free will and is being controlled by another human, for better or for worse.

Neveldine's depiction of a world hungry for digital blood, while narrow and perhaps a bit angry is smart and stylized. The two central games in the movie are "Society": an eerie living hybrid of The Sims/Sony's Home and "Slayers" the aforementioned live FPS. The two weave in and out of the narrative making smart quips about gaming culture along the way. We have the obese gentleman playing "Society" with his female avatar, chatting up the gents and crotch grabbling with zeal; this while dipping a slab of waffle into a nearby bucket of syrup with gusto. We have the world champion of gaming a-la Halo's "Little Poison" who is so good he is charged with controlling Butler in his quest for freedom. He comfortably rests in his throne like room equipped with a panoramic, PC monitor, double clicking the air to wave away the shots of tween breasts flooding his fan mail box and equipping his Slayer avatar with new weapon upgrades. Michael C. Hall provides an expert performance as a twisted Bill Gates type bent on world domination while fighting a losing battle with stealth hacker: Ludacris, who provides our hero with mods for "Slayer". This world is a salacious and gory place where everyone speaks their mind and plays their role balls to the wall.

Without taking itself too seriously the writing inspires thoughts of a gritty, early PS2 action title equipped with painfully sharp close-ups and slick as oil characterization. The pacing expends the story at a smooth clip giving one the feel of a natural level progression and ultimately culminating in a very Hideo Kojima-esque "boss battle" with Hall controlling a legion of dancing convicts. At times I think it can be healthy to have a solid black/white perspective on the finer details of a sub culture growing more mainstream every day. It feels like this movie makes an attempt to "assassinate" the stereotypes it magnifies. Gamer feels like it's suggesting we must let go of old ideas to make room for fresh blood, this made apparent in the creepy symbolic decay of a child's playtime frozen with future HD technology. This movie not only suggests death it celebrates it with sweeping snapshots of human debris collectively forming a bleak mosaic, all in the name of fun.

ROCsteady
Posted to Movies-DVDs, Video Games on 17 October 2009 · Comments (7)
Other stuff like this: brian taylor, crank, crank2, gamer, gerard butler, halo, jason straham, little poison, mark neveldine, mmo, sony, sony's home, the sims