Gamer, 2009
Directors: Mark Neveldine, Bryan Taylor
Cast: Gerard Butler, Amber Valetta
Stage: City’s colloseum (multiplex cinema)
Gamer in short: Set in a future-world where humans can control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments, a star player from a game called “Slayers” looks to regain his independence while taking down the game’s mastermind
Preps: My colleague drags me on a culture day to see a movie. I don’t really know anything about it. At first I think that I have tried to see this already at home and gave it approximately 10 minutes before erasing it, but I see it’s something different. So I take part of this lottery gladly. You need to do something cultural and not why in cinema, on national culture day?
Reality:
An interesting idea, similar to Avatar’s – you get to see two dimensions in one world. One is the player and one is the action hero – this time in reality. In Avatar, it’s vice versa. From real life to action hero. Here you are playing with real toys and it seems so logical, how it may have come down to this (in a sense, how did all this occur, that again a brilliant mind takes over the crowds). With all the social network, avatar, internet fuss going on in the last decade, seems even believable. Although I don’t buy the technology. I am not a phisician or a medical expert, but I doubt that we could evolve a technology to be embedded into one’s brains letting someone else guide the movements while the persons are still being themselves (switch on/switch off). The economy in this concept that movie shows fascinates me and I truly believe it to be a business success. A genious idea and yet, so disgusting it rocks the blood in my veins.
You get payed to be a part of the world where someone, that pays to guide you, actually guides you/controls your movements. In other words, has to do what you tell him/her to. A bit slavish, I think. But brilliant and creepy. All the dirty details some creepy creatures wanted to do for their whole lives (in this case, a fat boy experiences sex with a male, night clubbing, etc), and all the things one wanted to do and didn’t dare to (make a tatoo, pierce your tongue 20 times, let the neighbourhood dog piss on your high heels while you are wearing them), well, all this now comes to reality. You pay one to do what you want, wear what you want to wear, speak what you are saying. Superb. Even hurt or kill yourself, if your godfather tells you to.
The whole movie is one of those that remind us where the world is going to – in sense of making internet, games, social networks, computer world not only popular, but essential to survive. And emphasizing what rich people are allowed and where poor people find themselvses in. Something apocalyptic in the whole story. But I buy it and it touches me.
Gerard Butler here is the survivor, the man on the path that (a bit usa stylish) turns to be a successful one. Gerard also excelled in The ugly truth (see it, truly funny and true!), I love his performance here. The new Bruce Willis, I presume.
My personal rating: 8,5 (inspiring, making shivers down my spine when I imagine the world like this). And I want to have a computer room just like that rich nerd – Simon. Who wouldn’t anyway đ