The Movie
The stubbornness of studio filmmakers never ceases to amaze/offend: When will they stop trying to give us movies centered upon the popularity of videogames? Has there ever been a good one? Will there ever be? Too often the central question seems to be some flavor of, "What if the videogame... wasn't just a game?" And so in Gamer, a futuristic frag-fest called Slayers allows players to control actual flesh-and-blood human characters across 30 levels of extreme combat, live ammunition and all. Death-row inmates have been promised parole if they survive, and so fresh meat is not a problem.
What is a problem--for freaky game creator Castle (Dexter's Michael C. Hall), anyway--is the game's most notorious player, Kable (Gerard Butler, unsuccessfully trying once again to bury his accent), soon within a single level of fulfilling his commitment and earning his freedom. Turns out Kable knows too much though, and Castle will stop at nothing to ensure his "Game Over" status. The poor-homicidal-underdog plot of Gamer is reminiscent of The Running Man, frankly, and by the end it is not only predictable but cartoonish. At least it's always executed by writer/directors Neveldine/Taylor with a sense of humor, although not quite as over-the-top as their Crank and Crank 2.
The Picture
The digitally-captured 1.85:1 image is incredibly sharp and detailed, effortlessly preserving the distinctive visual style: often-exaggerated color, deliberately harsh light/shadow, and the insertion of faux video glitches. This is not to say that the picture is free of noise, but such quality issues are minimal. There's a bit of tell-tale streaking in a few scenes, but the purity of the special effects, and even their wink-at-the-audience impurity (the faint taint of static across mammoth digital billboards) shines through.
The Sound
As we might expect from a living state-of-the-art combat game played by the best of the best, the sound is gleefully busy. Hang on for generous low-end activity in the frequent explosions, plenty of hard surrounds and nimbly realized environmental cues. Every channel in the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track has been smartly, aggressively utilized, with intense shootouts resulting in outstanding directionality. Sonically, Gamer is a winner.
The Extras
The "LG LIVE" BD-Live support is chock full of gadgets (news, local weather, time) that can even be toggled on/off during the movie via the red button, in addition to Twitter/Facebook integration and downloadable cellphone ringtones and wallpaper images. Other internet-enabled features include Metamenu (additional movie data and advanced control) and BD Touch (downloadable title-specific bonus content) for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Neveldine/Taylor supply an audio commentary along with actors Amber Valletta, Alison Lohman and Terry Crews. They are also the stars of the "iCon Mode," an ambitious audio/video commentary wherein they control the very playback of their movie; pausing and rewinding at will; walking onto the screen from time to time while the movie shrinks to a window, much like Warner's Maximum Movie Mode. In addition, "Cheat Codes" optionally branches to intermittent picture-in-picture video commentary from key crew members (we choose any or all from a list) for key sequences, before returning us to the start of the scene.
The thee-part "Inside the Game: Controlling Gamer" (80 minutes) goes in-depth on the filmmakers' "run-and-gun" style, which segues nicely to "First Person Shooter: The Evolution of Red" (17 minutes) about the cutting-edge digital motion picture system they use. Both of these are in high definition. Disc Two is a DVD-ROM carrying a standard-def Digital Copy of the film for iTunes and Windows Media.
Final Thoughts
Ever get that feeling, checking your watch after a long stretch of videogaming, "Oh, man, I can't believe I just wasted all that time"? That's kind of how I felt after watching Gamer, but it sure looked and sounded neat, and at least my thumbs aren't sore.
Product Details
- Actors: Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick, Logan Lerman, Alison Lohman, Terry Crews, Ramsey Moore, Ludacris, John Leguizamo
- Directors: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
- Audio Format/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French)
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rating: NR
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Release Date: January 19, 2010
- Run Time: 95 minutes
- List Price: $39.99
- Extras:
- Audio commentary by Neveldine/Taylor, Amber Valletta, Alison Lohman and Terry Crews
- iCon Mode (BonusView)
- "Cheat Codes" (BonusView)
- "Inside the Game: Controlling Gamer"
- "First Person Shooter: The Evolution of Red"
- D-Box Motion Code
- Metamenu
- BD Touch
- "LG LIVE" BD-Live
- Digital Copy
