this is a film that will only be understood by people who play games call of duty have ps home ect if your not a gamer don’t expect to get the jokes or the way the film is portrayed. if your a gamer you will find this really good

Kable (realname Tillman and the film never really explains the two names) is an ex-soldier sentenced to death for the murder of a colleague. In this dystopian future gamers can play a kind of second life game, meeting, greeting, fornicating and generally messing around in a city called society. But they don’t move pixels, they move real people – desperate people who are paid to have an implant in their brain which allows them to be manipulated by a gamer at home. Tillman’s wife is one of these ‘actors’as she tries to get together enough money to win back their daughter who was taken in to care. Cue much mild molestation in an array of fantasy outfits as fat sweaty men at home grunt into the burgers. But Society is being surpassed in populairty by Slayers. This is a first person shoot ém up set in a smashed city where hard men with an array of lethal weapons from knives to flamethrowers battle to get to a save point. And like Society this game manipulates real people – this time death row inmates. Tillman/Kable (played by Butler) is the best. Played by a 17 year old geek who has become a celebrity as a result Kable is only a few games from the point where he wins his freedom. But Castle the sinister (and decidedly camp) boss of the firm that runs both games (that bloke off Dexter) doesn’t want Tillman back on the streets and has enlisted an oversized thug to make sure he doesn’t make it. In the meantime a group of cyber rebels led by Ludacriss are trying to stop humanity sleepwalking into slavery and are convinced that Tillman knows something that Castle wants hidden. I think we’re supposed to say something like the fight in the game was ahrd but the real fight begins when he breaks free and takes on the system.

It is an intriguing premise (though if you don’t like it then fair enough – don’t bother with the film) and in places it is very good even satirical. the protrayal of gamers is very good and in places laugh out loud funny. I’ve never played any of the second life type games so I’m not sure whether the look of the game is right but the Slayer game which consists of dozens of men in drag grey and black combat gear running in a crouched stance and firing as helicopters weave through city blocks shooting from almost point blank range look spot on. The film does insist on using that technique of jerky angles and mud spattering the lens that worked in Saving Private Ryan but doesn’t really make sense in any of the other films that have used it. (In Saving Private Ryan it was supposed to feel like period newsreel footage) The biggest issue is that I was never really sure quite how much of what was going on was supposed to be real and how much was supposed to be computer generated. In the opening sequence for example there is a woman who appears to be a virtual bank teller accepting notes from people who get shot in front of her. Was she supposed to actually be there or super imposed onto the screen? How much of what he does is Kable’s work and how much is the boy’s? If it’s all the boy then why is Kable’s military background relevant? There’s lots of this that doesn’t make a great deal of sense. And if it was just a guns and explosions lad fest like Doom or Shoot ém up then you wouldn’t care but as the film does keep looking like it”s trying to be relevant and make a point you start to question some of the stuff (Like how is that guy still fighting when half his head is shot away – it’s not supposed to be a computer game, they’re supposed to be real people)There are some random arty shots which don’t really add anything.

This is quite an uneven film with a few great moments and Butler is spot on as Kable/Tillman but it’s nothing to get excited about.

If like myself, you are into consol gaming,fantasy fiction lots of action and a reasonably belivable and well thought out script for a film ‘GAMER’is in my opinion a great choice for any growing film collection.It is however a little short,and could be considered a bit of a lads flick according to my girlfriend.But the acting is good and all in all worth a watch

I went into this expecting to see… well, basically what’s been described so many people here. Mindless, extreme action. Sometimes, that’s what you want to watch, sometimes it isn’t. Today, I was curious.

One of the first things that struck me (besides the use of ‘teabagging’ as seen in various FPSes) was how video game violence translates to “real film”. Gamer is the most effective translation of video gaming to film, and it made me realise just how horrific some of the things we find hilarious and awesome in our games would be in a more realistic medium. Body parts go flying, heads are blown off, and every step of the way, the game/film connection felt very deliberate and fairly powerful at times.

The social commentary is not very deep or subtle, but it’s interesting and probably not as far from the truth as one would want to think. The film goes to extremes because it tries to portray the extremes of humanity in a world where Second Life and Modern Warfare are real. It’s not, as one reviewer here calls it, a misogynistic and homophobic film.

Visually, it’s as over-the-top as everything else in the film. The jittery, jolted imagery is meant to convey the game world and succeeds some of the time and fails miserably some of the time. Most of the time, it works just about enough for me to roll with it without making too much of a fuss. The Kingdom was much worse in my opinion.

Perhaps I just had really low expectations. Perhaps I’m a braindead dimwith. Whatever the case, I quite enjoyed Gamer.

Tarkovsky, Kubrick or Kaurismaki this ain’t. Don’t expect it to be a ponderous, slow-moving meditation on the devaluation of human life like Moon. Expect it to be a crazy, extreme belly-roar about how human life is worth flick-all these days. Take it for what it is.

Gamer [DVD] [2009]
Would highly recommend this dvd, it is action packed from start to finish lots of death, destruction and explosions,very enjoyable sci-fi movie plus it features Gerard Butler need I say more!

The film took a little bit of a while getting into, and wasn’t at all like I expected. Though overall I enjoyed it!

This was a good nights viewing if you are into Video Gaming (RPG) of course. Story line is good, coming from a sci-fi. Delivered on time might say did the pre-order for it.

The negative reviewers of this film have missed its most basic point – whilst in the guise of an action film, it is *parodying* our cultural obsession with shoot-em up games/films/TV …

The reviewers who have heraldically missed this point are ironically the best possible proof of the film’s underlying message!!

Actually quite good. As already mentioned it is very similar to The Running Man but also the more recent Death Race. Fans of the COD FPS combat games will also enjoy this and it’s not entirely brain in neutral. The “Society” game which also features in the movie, is very much a poke at titles like The Sims or other MMORPG games where greasy nerds can basically become anyone they like.

As mentioned in the DVD reviews, can be gory in places though in a quickfire rather than lingering sense.

Blu-Ray picture is good and DTS soundtrack plenty of power.

While played straight for much of its duration, Gamer is without a doubt, a massive spoof of online gaming and online societies in general. In fact, Society as it’s called in Gamer, is essentially a futuristic version of Sony’s Home, where people gather to talk crap, etc. You can look at the use of virtual sex and stuff thrown at you in Gamer and pretend to be offended, but that’s the catch… It’s all 100% true to a degree, albeit tarted up in a near-future setting.

Gamer’s strong point is undoubtedly its weak point as well, if its audience can’t tell what’s being spoofed,(people not familiar with online gaming, etc, are going to be lost), and wind up taking the movie at face value, they might just find it a crass exercise in excess. They’d be wrong IMO, Gamer is much more than certain hack reviews would have you believe.

Just aware going into it, it’s NOT an action film, nor a morality tale. It’s a massive, massive satire, that managed to stealth its way under the radar.