Review of Gamer (2001) by The R — 31 Jan 2013

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected. It falls somewhere ahead of Crank and behind Crank High: Voltage in Neveldine's and Taylor's filmography, and like those films uses a barrage of ideas, visual stimuli and throwaway gags to assault the viewer.

There are some pretty bad pieces in this (Michael C. Hall's performance and character are particularly unpleasant, as is the recurring gag of the morbidly obese gamer), but they're generally outweighed by the film's better ideas.

The film actually shows a bit of ambition compared to the Crank films in its use of different visual styles to separate the different parts of its world (with a desaturated nervous look aping the visual style of first person shooters contrasting with a brighter poppier look to its simulation game), and its toying with ideas of the commodification of violence and society's relationship with the media (getting in some interesting but half-baked points against video games and reality television).

Oh, and Terry Crews is hilarious in this - I'd love to see him work more with the directors, as his acting style and their direction seem a perfect fit. Gamer doesn't quite reach the level of inspiration and success as Crank: High Voltage, but it's not for a lack of trying.