Review of Gamer (2009) by Matthew O — 10 Jul 2012

'Gamer' is set in a near future where gaming has developed into a society where gamers can control humans. In the case of our hero, he is in a game named 'slayer' where ex cons are being controlled in a series of bloody mass scale video game shootouts.

The frantic camera work and full on blood and gore mirrors a number of video games such as 'tour of duty' rather well, the first person views and hunch like physic, as seen in all video games of type are impressive.

The film can be seen as 21st up date of the 1980's action film 'Running Man', but is more at home with the recent 'Death Race' remake in execution.

Mark Neveldine is best know for his crank series, and although 'Gamer' is nowhere near as frantic and stupid as that series, the problem lies with the relentless pace of a film, that can't keep still. So much is thrown at the viewer at times, not just the action but also other parts of the visual that it can become too much.

That is the problem with this film it is too high concept and visually hectic, a classic case of style of substance. A good example of this is the closing half the film where a fight sequence is proceeded by a dance routine, a kind of style which director John Woo would of done in the mid 90's but looks odd and out of place in 'Gamer', Butler expression at the end of this scene says it all, a look of slight disbelief.

The actors don't seem to have room to act, Gerard has proven that he can act and do action in '300'. If the director had paused for breath and layer a bit more on character development around him then 'Gamer' which has a good idea could of been a more satisfying film.

Gerald is in danger of moving over to becoming a mundane Jason Statham type action actor.

Still the actor as shown in doing other roles can act, unlike his action English counterpart, and here's hoping he can get to work with some high end action directors such as John Woo rather than Woo wanabees such as Neveldine.