Sept. 11, 2009
BECK ON FILM: 'Gamer' Loud, Explosive, Incomprehensible at Times
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the duo who previously brought us the "Crank" films, return with their latest action film, "Gamer." It's loud, full of explosions, incomprehensible at times, and would have fit in real well with a certain robot film that was released earlier this summer. It's a shame because their "Crank" films had been fun and energetic, while "Gamer" merely feels like you're playing a bad video game.
In the future, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created a technology that spawns two of the biggest hit games of the time. One is called Society, in which players can become actual people and make them do what they want to do. The other is called "Slayers," in which players become death-row inmates whose incentive for signing up is that if they survive 30 rounds of the game, they are set free.
When the film starts, Kable (Gerard Butler), a convicted murderer, is only four matches away from winning his release through his player, Simon (Logan Lerman). During these last few matches, it becomes evident that someone doesn't want Kable to secure his release and is doing everything in their power to make sure that he dies during gameplay. It appears that Kable knows something of interest, something that could potential harm the one trying to kill him, so he does the only thing that might save his life: attempt to escape from the game.
It's kind of hard to explain why Neveldine's and Taylor's "Crank" films work and this one doesn't, but I'll take a stab at it. "Crank" and "Crank: High Voltage" were like pure adrenaline rushes. They were fast-paced, absurd, and downright silly, but never took themselves seriously in the least, leading to a fun time at the cinema.
"Gamer" is what you get when you suck all the fun out of a movie like "Crank" and replace it with flat, dull, cardboard characters that don't develop once during the entire film. Not that the characters in "Crank" ever develop either, but again, it was meant to be silly and absurd, so if that's the way you take it, you might have a good time.
This film takes itself far too seriously, partly because of the side story of Kable trying to find his wife and daughter. The problem with the film taking itself seriously is that the audience can't. Games like this would never be legal, despite the excuses they give about the penal system about to go bankrupt and the faulty electronic voting that brought about the games legality in the first place (as if this would have even gone to a vote).
Perhaps that's looking too much into the logistics of it as this filmmaking duo is not known for being realistic in their stories. They were probably hoping for another hit along the lines of their earlier work, but by leaving out everything that made those films fun, they instead deliver a film that gets more and more absurd as it goes on.
Another one of the film's huge problems lies in its editing. It seems as though the editors, Peter Amundson, Fernando Villena, and Doobie White, were in a huge rush to get the film to its end. Most of the action sequences are incomprehensible blurs of guns firing, characters running around, and random explosions going off all around them. Either they were in a rush to show us all of the special effects or they figured that audiences have incredibly short attention spans and would only be able to stand an average shot length of about .5 seconds.
To prove that the filmmakers had run out of ideas by the end of the film, they even inserted a musical number. It is at this point that they finally reveal what the true plot was all along, and, let's just say that when I mentioned that it gets more and more absurd as it goes on, I wasn't kidding. Did I mention there is a musical number?
If you're able to turn your brain off and enjoy a dumb popcorn flick, then this might be right up your alley, but for those that need a little substance to go along with the popcorn, you'll probably want to set your sights elsewhere. I can only hope that Neveldine and Taylor will eventually get back to the "Crank" series, though it will be hard to bring back the main character of that series after what happened at the end of the last film, but then again, absurdity is the name of the game with these guys. 2/4 stars.
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BECK ON FILM: 'Gamer' Loud, Explosive, Incomprehensible at Times
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the duo who previously brought us the "Crank" films, return with their latest action film, "Gamer." It's loud, full of explosions, incomprehensible at times, and would have fit in real well with a certain robot film that was released earlier this summer. It's a shame because their "Crank" films had been fun and energetic, while "Gamer" merely feels like you're playing a bad video game.
In the future, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created a technology that spawns two of the biggest hit games of the time. One is called Society, in which players can become actual people and make them do what they want to do. The other is called "Slayers," in which players become death-row inmates whose incentive for signing up is that if they survive 30 rounds of the game, they are set free.
When the film starts, Kable (Gerard Butler), a convicted murderer, is only four matches away from winning his release through his player, Simon (Logan Lerman). During these last few matches, it becomes evident that someone doesn't want Kable to secure his release and is doing everything in their power to make sure that he dies during gameplay. It appears that Kable knows something of interest, something that could potential harm the one trying to kill him, so he does the only thing that might save his life: attempt to escape from the game.
It's kind of hard to explain why Neveldine's and Taylor's "Crank" films work and this one doesn't, but I'll take a stab at it. "Crank" and "Crank: High Voltage" were like pure adrenaline rushes. They were fast-paced, absurd, and downright silly, but never took themselves seriously in the least, leading to a fun time at the cinema.
"Gamer" is what you get when you suck all the fun out of a movie like "Crank" and replace it with flat, dull, cardboard characters that don't develop once during the entire film. Not that the characters in "Crank" ever develop either, but again, it was meant to be silly and absurd, so if that's the way you take it, you might have a good time.
This film takes itself far too seriously, partly because of the side story of Kable trying to find his wife and daughter. The problem with the film taking itself seriously is that the audience can't. Games like this would never be legal, despite the excuses they give about the penal system about to go bankrupt and the faulty electronic voting that brought about the games legality in the first place (as if this would have even gone to a vote).
Perhaps that's looking too much into the logistics of it as this filmmaking duo is not known for being realistic in their stories. They were probably hoping for another hit along the lines of their earlier work, but by leaving out everything that made those films fun, they instead deliver a film that gets more and more absurd as it goes on.
Another one of the film's huge problems lies in its editing. It seems as though the editors, Peter Amundson, Fernando Villena, and Doobie White, were in a huge rush to get the film to its end. Most of the action sequences are incomprehensible blurs of guns firing, characters running around, and random explosions going off all around them. Either they were in a rush to show us all of the special effects or they figured that audiences have incredibly short attention spans and would only be able to stand an average shot length of about .5 seconds.
To prove that the filmmakers had run out of ideas by the end of the film, they even inserted a musical number. It is at this point that they finally reveal what the true plot was all along, and, let's just say that when I mentioned that it gets more and more absurd as it goes on, I wasn't kidding. Did I mention there is a musical number?
If you're able to turn your brain off and enjoy a dumb popcorn flick, then this might be right up your alley, but for those that need a little substance to go along with the popcorn, you'll probably want to set your sights elsewhere. I can only hope that Neveldine and Taylor will eventually get back to the "Crank" series, though it will be hard to bring back the main character of that series after what happened at the end of the last film, but then again, absurdity is the name of the game with these guys. 2/4 stars.
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