Gamer |  | Actors: Gerard Butler, Amber Valetta, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick, Alison Lohman
Studio: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $7.94
as of 2/9/2010 15:42 EST details
You Save: $22.01 (73%)
New (42) Used (26) from $7.94
Seller: moviesandgamestore
Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 292
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: LGED26761D
UPC: 031398116714
EAN: 0031398116714
ASIN: B002SG7Z7A
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Release Date: January 19, 2010 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
GAMER IS A HIGH-CONCEPT ACTION THRILLER SET IN A NEAR FUTURE WHEN GAMING AND ENTERTAINMENT HAVE EVOLVED INTO A TERRIFYING NEW HYBRID.
Amazon.com
Gerard Butler stars as Kable, condemned criminal and globally famous super-soldier in the ultimate multiplayer game, "Slayers.” Human controllers direct each thought and move of real-life prison inmates battling in hyper-intense environments – where the goal is freedom and the penalty is death. But when Kable suddenly decides he wants out, his rebellion threatens the twisted plans of game creator Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall, TV’s "Dexter”), who will stop at nothing to crush the renegade commando in this taut, adrenaline-packed action-thriller.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 55
 Movie Headache of 2009 February 9, 2010
Jery Tillotson (new york city)
The year 2008 had "Cloverfield" as the Number One Movie to Create a Banging Headache.
The year 2009 has "Gamer."
For any movie fan whose not into fanatical internet game playing, there should have been an advisory on the DVD box warning us that the movie "Gamer" is strictly for those who spend endless hours and days obsessed with game playing.
I really wanted to like this movie. It was like watching directors like Fellini or Ken Russell or John Waters on a bad acid trip.
Gotta stop and run to my pharmacy and seek something stronger than Tylynol for my poor aching head.
 A vehicle for Gerard Butler February 9, 2010
Judy K. Polhemus (LA)
My great-nephew is a gamer. I've seen mayhem and murder on his screen, car wrecks and massive body counts that magically disappear in order to get to the next point of contact for more mayhem and murder. I ask him: "Is that it? You just keep going and killing?" "Yeah, pretty much," he says. "What's the point then?" I ask. "To see how many you can kill."
To see how many you can kill. Sweet. So this is what we allow our kids. Which takes me to "Gamer," Gerard Butler's latest film. He makes so many, it is hard to keep up. When I was reviewing my pay-per-view choices, I was so surprised to find this movie--with my man! Click. I made the purchase. Watching it reminded me of my great-nephew. Gamers. There all resemblances end. My nephew plays for fun and skill-making. Butler as an innocent convict plays to get out of prison, provides he lives through all 30 games. It is not fun, but life and death. People literally die in this game.
While other reviewers pretty much dissed this movie, I kind of liked it (but then Butler is in it). My first thought--as it is with movies like this (put a man/woman in a trapped life-or-death situation) and watch them live or die, according to the director's determination (only we know that the main character will likely live to tell his story). It's going from Point A to Point Z or somewhere in-between that gives us that voyeuristic thrill. What stories like this always remind me of is "Terminal Man" with Arnold Schwarzeneggar, a film made at least 20 years ago. That story has this plot line: Man (and woman) are put in a trapped situation with a life or death scenario to play out. Sound familiar? The main character's will power and specialness (as famous movie star playing an innocent trapped victim) will--dare I say it?--always see him conquer, survive, and thrive.
So it will be with Butler's character. But getting there is the thrill for the viewer. Butler had to die in "300" because of history, but in a fantasy/apocalyptic-type movie, he obviously will win, not only his freedom, but... I know I'm on thin ice revealing Butler's victory, but a five-year-old child knows he will win. After all, this is Gerard Butler.
One reviewer found it laughable that Butler pukes and (urinates) in a car's gas tank to make it run. That, dear director, was rather lame, but I made an excuse for you as I watched: Cars of the future have the capability of converting the gases of puke and (urine) into fuel. Yep, a stretch, but I give it. After all, it is Butler's puke and (urine).
The other actor whose work I admire and who enhances the movie with merely his presence is Michael C. Hall, focus player in the Dexter series. Just Hall's voice alone, but let's add his facial expressions, and the product is an excellent bit of acting, adding more validity to the movie. My favorite part, though, my very favorite part is Hall singing and dancing to "I Get a Kick out of You" with his back-up dance line of demented, brain-tampered convicts. Oh, how clever. What a bit of Tarantino thought process. What a brilliant piece of imaginative film action. What a surprise bit of black humor.
Overall, I actually enjoyed this movie and give it four stars, a generous gesture on my part, mainly because it is an interesting vehicle for the talents of Gerard Butler and Michael C. Hall. Everyone else was mediocre and replaceable.
Enter the game... but don't expect it to be everything you want it to be. February 8, 2010
Kody Boye (Idaho)
The future holds everything and anything for those who look for it. Life, love, movement, advancement--anything is possible, if only you choose to look for it.
For a man named Ken Castle, the future is only the beginning.
Creator of the massively popular virtual reality game `Society'--in which you, as the player, control living, breathing people--Castle has become known both for his ideals and persecutions. Sell your soul to the devil for money, but be controlled by someone you don't even know; let a corporation plant a microchip into your brain and forever be enslaved by the masses; let a man call you his own and forever live in fear of being controlled, even outside the game.
In a future where the prison system is under collapse, there is little choice but to consider alternate masses to fund a system that houses the most infamous, vile people that walk among us.
Ken Castle is that alternative.
Welcome to the world of GAMER, but most importantly, welcome to the game `Slayers,' in which the players of massive multiplayer online first person shooters take control of living, breathing convicts. Designed to give death row inmates one final chance at freedom, `Slayers' pits convicts against one another in all-out, no-holds-barred warfare. Controlled by gamers from all around the world, the inmates have little choice but to instill faith in someone other than themselves as they're slowly but surely led to either freedom, or death.
For one man, freedom means everything in the world.
With a wife and daughter on the outside, Kable most not only fight for his good name, but also for his life. And when controlled by possibly the most famous teenage gamer in all of history, how can he loose, if only by mistake?
When sitting down to view a movie like GAMER, I wasn't sure what all to expect. From the brief previews I've seen and read, I expected to watch a movie that consisted entirely of action, but shown in the style of a first-person shooter. For the most part, I thought I would be seeing teenagers controlling convicts from behind the scenes, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of the fighting is shown on the battlefield, through the convict's eyes. Though what sparse amount of fighting there is in the movie, it's well done, both graphically and choreographically.
PROS:
- The movie does an amazing job at demonstrating what a world with this kind of setting would seem like. The atmosphere that exudes from each individual aspect of the world fully immerses you inside the story, which is something few movies tend to do when it comes to the overall world. Society, Slayers, the regular world--it paints a dystopian future that's both frightening and mystifying at the same time.
- Though there's not as much action in the movie as is led to believe, the action that IS there is incredibly well done. With amazing CGI, choreography and stunning death scenes, the action is one of the pleasant highlights of the movie.
- Michael C. Hall. Yes, I said it--Michael C. Hall. Having only previously seen him in DEXTER, I wasn't sure what all to expect, but was pleasantly surprised at seeing him play a character like this. He's an amazing actor that really puts a face on the more deviant character in the movie.
CONS:
- While watching the movie, I couldn't help but feel slightly... disconnected from it. This isn't to say that the movie was immersive in particular aspects (i.e, the atmosphere of the world,) but I didn't feel as connected to it as I thought I should have. This may be in part due to the fact that the world was rather bleak and without a lot of moralistic hope, but it bothered me to sit back and not feel like I was completely inside that world, living a life that I should have been living in the hour-and-a-half I was watching the movie.
- Side plots. I couldn't help but feel that a lot of the side story that they'd placed in the film wasn't necessary. The aspect of `Society' and Kable's wife, while interesting, didn't seem necessary, nor did the man that played Kable's wife in the game. Though it did its purpose in revealing that there are deviants and rather unpleasant people that exist behind the screen, it didn't do a whole lot to advance the story in terms of plot and/or character development.
- The ending. Though I won't spoil it, the ending ends on an uninspiring low note. When the final climax occurs (and trust me, you'll know when that is,) what you expect to happen doesn't. In a way, the ending seems like a cheap attempt to finish the story without tying the final plot ends that weren't completed. Several new plots were revealed within the final fifteen minutes of the movie, yet the film ends so abruptly that it leaves you disappointed and wanting more.
GAMER isn't a film that you will be die-hard and gung-ho to watch over and over again, but the metaphors surrounding virtual reality and the real world makes it an interesting movie to watch. Though its story is filled with thought-provoking questions and atmosphere rich with texture, the disconnection the viewer feels whilst watching it, as well as the unnecessary side plots and the disappointing ending keeps it from being a perfect film. Regardless, GAMER offers the viewer a chance to see the future from a different, bleak perspective, which ultimately makes it a film worth watching.
RUNNING MAN meets GLADIATOR February 8, 2010
The Real King of Movies (Austin, Texas)
September 4, 2009. RUNNING MAN meets GLADIATOR with a touch of BLADE RUNNER and a dash of FORTRESS. Michael C. Hall is a revelation as the cracker version of Bill Gates. The online game Society is the horrifyingly obvious and natural successor to the Sims. The killer dance number at the end is worth the price of admission alone. Visual style reminiscent of CRANK (not too surprising given the directors) and the story line does not mind stealing directly from RUNNING MAN and DEATH RACE. While the ending is weak, the film serves up what it promised.
No worth it to own it.. Just worth to watch it.. February 8, 2010
E. O. Pages (Panama, Rep de Panama)
I like to played video games and if you like it too; you will find kind of fun this movie. The main plot of the movie is that the guy (Gerard Butler) is controlled by a kid who plays the video game. Gerard has to win 30 matches to get himself free. I did not find the movie boring at all. I really enjoyed it. But honestly this movie I only would watch it once, THATS IT! So in other word if you can rent it as I did, do it. I recommend the movie to anyone who likes to see a lot of gunfire.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 55
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