a big, loud mess that loses its few good ideas in a morass of convoluted storytelling that it has, sadly, confused with stylish innovation
Comment
11/12/09
Gamer (2009)
29
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:68
Fresh:20
Rotten:48
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: With all of the hyperkinetic action and none of the flair of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's earlier work, Gamer has little replay value.
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
US Box Office: $20,488,579
Synopsis: GAMER is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online... [More]
Starring: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Kyra Sedgwick
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Reviews for Gamer
A streak of genius runs through this dystopian vision of a world in where VR games are played with real people ... it touches some exposed nerves before retreating into clichés.
11/03/09
Gamer feels like a video cheapie that just time warped in from the 1990s . . .
11/02/09
Like the 'Crank' films, this is an absurdly exaggerated, outlandishly crass and alternately inventive and appalling depiction of a man violently fighting to liberate himself from the forces that seek to control him...
09/21/09
An injection of adrenaline straight to the eye – which isn’t entirely a bad thing.
09/18/09
Top CriticIf you are a gamer, and like shooters, science fiction, action, and wouldn't consider gratuitous boob shots gratuitous, you won't feel short-changing on leaving the cinema after watching Gamer.
09/18/09
Can I get back the ninety minutes of my life that I squandered sitting through this miasmic upchuck of techno sludge? What was the story again?
09/18/09
With its nano-technology synching different brains together, spyware programs attached to DNA, and a double dose of bad taste served up with a side-dish of splattered brains and skull fragments, Gamer is still mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
09/18/09
It won’t win points for originality or depth, but the Crank boys are still on their game as far as sex, violence and sheer unapologetic excess go. High concept, high octane, highly likely to end up a post-pub staple.
09/18/09
While packed with guns, girls and gore, there's none of the gleeful knowingness that made their earlier films such guilty pleasures.
09/18/09
Edited with the finesse of a toddler on a sherbet dib-dab rush, the film dashes from one over-stylised battle sequence to the next.
09/18/09
The action sequences are disappointing, there's a distinct lack of wit or invention in the direction and it's also impossible to care about the characters when they're so thinly sketched.
09/18/09
The film is a cacophonous mess without a single interesting character.
09/18/09
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor deserve some credit for being upfront about their desire to deliver purely adrenaline-driven action cinema and for making it look brilliant.
09/18/09
Were Stanley Kubrick and Russ Meyer alive and their minds merged "Being John Malkovich"-style, the clash of their ids and egos might yield "Gamer." It will make you feel putrid, but it's satire that's sadistic, salacious and audaciously entertaining.
09/17/09
attempts to lure audiences in with its fast-action but also provides a surprisingly thoughtful commentary on control and freedom and the means some will go to achieve it.
09/11/09
Puts the viscera in visceral but a thought-provoking exploration of our increasingly disconnected society in drag as mindless action.
09/10/09
Takes itself far too seriously, saying nothing of timeliness or value in a banally overblown fashion.
09/10/09
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have slowly started garnering actual critical consideration for their Crank movies; with Gamer, they make another good case for taking them seriously.
09/10/09
Poor editing makes Gamer overlong, and the negative portrayal of gamers is as hard to swallow as the cheesy plot.
09/10/09
Latest News for Gamer
September 04, 2009:
Neveldine and Taylor Talk Gamer 
It's a happy weekend for action lovers any time Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have a movie heading into theaters -- and in a new interview with Collider, the writing/directing... More...
July 02, 2009:
The Friday Harvest: Ice Age 3, Gamer, Daybreakers, and more!
More...
May 25, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
May 11, 2009:
This movie has undergone more title changes than Madonna adopting Third-World children!
More...
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