Gamer: The Movie: The Fuc.....?

Gamer came out, and I saw it.

Now, to be fair, before I go on this rant, I have to put out there that I know it wasn't supposed to be a deep movie but at the same time it also probably wasn't supposed to objectify not only gamers but technology as a whole either. But it did.

Gamer as a movie is one of those things that come out and you see it and after you think to yourself, wtf was that all about? That is the feeling of having watched something that had things happening but no real design to it all.

Spoilers are coming so if you think that this movie warrants you to avoid seeing any big plot lines being divulged, don't worry about it anyway because there really isn't one.

The movie is about a guy in prison for a murder he didn't commit but actually did. See, ole Kable, as Gerard Butler is known in the movie, was a soldier used in an experiment to increase longevity, but that was a lie, it was actually an experiment to control people to do whatever someone wanted them to do. He got controlled into shooting his buddy in the head, at least we think its his buddy, he has all of five minutes of screen time to convince us of that. But that all comes later in flashbacks and techonological mind viewer plot development.

Basically Kable is a convict in a game to win his freedom, kind of like Running Man except now someone is controlling Kable to shoot people. He is controlled by a kid named Simon. Now Simon is supposed to represent the typical FPS type gamer. He does this by basically being a self indulgent little prick who lives off his daddy's money and lounges around his virtual computer room thing that has a wraparound screen that shows everything from porn to email to chicks sending him IM's to show them his tits. Now this might not seem bad sounding really, but wait a bit.

Simon controls Kable, and Kable runs around killing other convicts in this slaughterhouse FPS type game called Slayers. If you win 30 games you go free, or at least that is what the hook is. Kable is the best of the best, having run through 27 matches. All of this is run by a guy that I cant remember his name but is played by Micheal C Hall who dials up the psychotic dickhead meter to 11. I will call him Douche from now on though. So Douche made this game Slayers but before that he made another game called Society. Its basically the same as Second Life but you get to control real people instead of avatars. Dress them up and make them do stupid shit. Mostly fuck each other it seems. This is done with something called Nanex that replaces cells in your brain with other cells that can be controlled. Society avatars are actors that get paid to be raped/played. Slayers just kille each other. So apparently the future according to this movie has moved on from digital depravity to actual depravity controlled via remote users who have abandoned all forms of decorum and basic human decency all together. They are basically showing us that if its not happening to us we will enjoy the fuck out of it as it happens to others that we control. Now I am not naive, I know people laugh when others get hit in the balls or bail in a skate vid. But I like to at least believe we don't enjoy maiming and murder wholesale piped directly into our living rooms. Otherwise CNN coverage of wars would go Pay Per View.

Now there is the other end of the spectrum of gamers they depict here. In this side, oddly enough Kables wife is controlled in Society as an avatar because hell why not fuck the whole family over!? Well, she is unfortunate enough to be controlled by Jabba the Hutt given human form. And I am not even kidding here. Her gamer controller is a grotesquely huge man who eats waffles directly off a plate as he dips them in syrup and sweats constantly. He plays the wife character and has her in all kinds of debauchery. From public sex to dressing like a rave slut. Later on he even coaxes a muderer to kill two avatars in Society as he gets off on watching it. This apparently is what gamers of the future are according to the creators of this film. So check your waffles at the door.

Gerard Butler seems perplexed at all times about wtf he is even doing in this movie and I have to agree. He puts forth the character of a man torn from his family and forced to kill at others behest. Horrified by what he sees but helpless to stop it. He comes across as genuine while everyone around him seems vapid, even the freedom fighters trying to stop the system in place now.

Micheal C Hall, the Douche, has a plan to control everyone with his Nanex and I guess play god. The absolute self confidence and smug attitude he puts across for this character is so over the top it defies convention. To give you an example, near the end he does this dance number routine with controlled convicts to Under My Skin. It just blows your mind.

I can't go on further about this without blowing a blood vessel in my head. So I will wrap it up. Gamer seems to be attacking game players and technology and social interaction programs directly. Showing them as this compassion less alternate world where depravity and vulgarity rule the day and human empathy and understanding are non existent. The movie seems to point out that if you enjoy games or social things such as twitter or second life then you are just one step away from being a media saturated whore beast that has no morales or ethical guidelines left and will probably lead to the downfall of mankind. Oh, that and you will probably want to virtually fuck 24/7 anything that moves. Not sure if they got the last part wrong really.

So Gamer, see it if you want but don't think there will be any kind of real meat to it or you will come away disappointed and probably a bit ticked off. It can be good for some mindless fun but it seems thats what alot of movies call for, leaving your mind at the door. And if you are a gamer, this movie says you should suck ass and die as you are a waste of oxygen.

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