Game on?

Game on?

The directing and writing duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have are known for two films under their belt, Crank and its sequel Crank: High Voltage. Described by the two as “Pure ADD candy”, the Crank films were high-octane, adrenalized and plastered with action. On the other hand, when it comes to story progression and character development, I’ve seen more artistic qualities in most Steven Seagal films. Enter Neveldine and Taylor’s latest effort, Gamer, a film that the two believe will make their peers and film goers aware that they can create movies with feeling and soul. Sheesh…..

Set in that overtly popular place known as the “not too distant future”, Gamer’s backdrop is a society that is centered on visual entertainment and hardcore violence (much like our own). One particular video game entitled “Slayers” is a mass scale multi-player online game in which players assume the role of an avatar and face off in full-scale combat. The catch? The avatars are real life death-row inmates, forced to fight through special mind-control technology created by a Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall of the hit Showtime series “Dexter”). The most prolific of these gladiators is Kable (300’s Gerard Butler), controlled by gamer Simon (Logan Lerman). Like many Hollywood convicts , Kable has been jailed for a crime he didn’t commit and he believes that “Slayers” will lead him to his eventual release and reunion with his family.

While the main premise of Gamer is very Point A to Point B, several sub-plots give the story some more depth. One involves Angie Tillman, Kable’s wife (played by Amber Valetta), finding herself trapped as an avatar in “Society”, a social networking community filled with smut and sexual deviance. Another involves the Humanz, an underground unit whose aim is to put an end to Castle and his game.

If you’ve seen the aforementioned Crank films, you should be very well aware that Neveldine and Taylor’s style of cinematography is comparable to Mike Tyson circa 1989, they want to knock you on your ass and they are going to do it as quick and relentless as possible. This time around, they are incorporating a new kind of camera called RED, which delivers, as they describe, a smooth and silky quality to the picture. While I found this tidbit interesting, what really caught my attention was the limited use of green screen for the film. Nearly every scene is shot in a real location, including a gypsum mine that is at an altitude of 7,000 feet. In a day and age where nearly everything is created and rendered with CGI, I found this aspect of their filmmaking rather refreshing.

As for the storytelling, it appears that the duo is taking pages from sci-fi action film like The Running Man, Escape From NY, No Escape and Death Race. They then take the concept of the massive multiplayer games like Battlefield, Unreal and Halo and throw that into the cauldron.

For an action star, Gerard Butler is an ideal choice. Since 300, the guy has joined the likes of Hugh Jackman, Jason Statham, Clive Owen and others in a legion of modern day action film badassery. He does everything that makes the general action audience happy; wear a sleeveless shirt that displays his well sculpted biceps, bare a tough guy countenance that hardly cracks a smile and say clever, hard ass tough guy things that makes fan boys get up and cheer.

To be honest, in spite of their efforts to create respectable art, Gamer comes off as generic, high energy action film, only with a unique twist that is based off of today’s video game technology. On the other hand, there is one major saving grace. While it will hook in the usual young crowd of film goers who seek their fill of hard-R action and good guy coolness, it just may get all of those MMO-addicted gamers off their butts. You know who I am talking about, yes? The ones who spend countless hours, sacrificing jobs, relationships, and overall credibility as functioning humans all for the sake of Everquest and World of Warcraft. That is if they can stop playing long enough to be aware of the movie.