Saturday, April 7, 2012

I Wanna Breach Your Firewall, Baby.

GAMER (2009)
Some movies are best when you really don't know what you're getting into. Gamer is an excellent example of ignorance is bliss. This movie was supposed to be a good date night pick: Gerard Butler for my lady, explosive action sequences for me. Win-win. Never mind that I had the sneaking suspicion in the back of my head that it was probably made for 14 year old boys and it was probably going to end with the hero growling the words: "Game over." The result was...not quite what I had expected. Instead, I got a future, dystopian society with gladiator style fights with a cyberpunk twist. Hello? How did things suddenly get so awesome?

The world is brilliantly done. In this world, everyone is hooked into their own virtual realities. Except virtual reality is...well...real, and the people on the other side of the screen are being forced by mind control to perform lewd and sometimes deadly acts. Think reality TV with guns. In many ways, you can pair this movie off with Hunger Games. But that wouldn't be quite right, because while Hunger Games delved into serious societal and political issues, Gamer was just a lot of campy fun. The fight scenes are fun, the world is epic, and Gerard Butler is everything you want Gerard Butler to be. The noble hero man with a lot of muscle and a little snark in him. Ludacris is in it as the computer hacker/rebellion leader. I really just enjoy his face, so that cameo made me happy. But the one who really steals the show is Michael C. Hall. Playing--what else?--a psychopath. But here he's a psychopath with a lot of money and some tap dance lessons. He's campy, he's sadistic, and he's just plain insane. But so, so much fun to watch. As usual, he steals every scene and owns the camera. If you have absolutely no desire to see this movie, consider it. Consider it solely for Michael C. Hall. Damn, man. Work it. 

18 comments:

  1. I started watching it once but I had to stop after a few minutes, have been meaning to finish watching ever since. Thank you for reminding me :)
    happy A to Z!

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    1. You're welcome! You should certainly finish it. Or at very least, skip to the end. Because that's where all the awesome Michael C. Hall is waiting to be devoured.

      Happy A to Z!

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  2. I bought this for $1.00. Haven't watched it yet, so I pretty much skipped the review. So feel free to skip this comment if you want. ;)

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    1. $1.00! An excellent investment. I'm really watching your whole to-see pile, aren't I?

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    2. Yes you are - do you have my video vault under surveillance, or are you just a lucky guesser?

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    3. Clearly, a lucky guesser. By the way, nice sweater.

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  3. I love the random nature of your film viewing. Chasing Failure to Launch with Gamer? Excellent.

    Do you think anyone else in the world has tackled those to consecutively? Um. No.

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    1. I needed something to clean my the taste of Failure out of my mouth! Oooh...burn...

      There should be more people who do! They should sell them side by side. What up. I would buy half of that shit. Maybe. Probably not. For $1.

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  4. You almost make me want to see it. Almost! I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month.

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    1. Epic goal! Almost is better than nothing! Happy A to Zing!

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  5. I'm gonna have to watch this one since I may be one of the very few people who actually thoguht "Surrogates" weren't that bad and this appears to be the same use of sci-fi as an excuse for action scenes.

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    1. If you like sci-fi and action, this is a good one. Granted, it's not Bladerunner, but it's a fun, campy action movie with a sci-fi twist. How could they go wrong, right?

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  6. The last thing I would ever expect is that Gamer would be a date night film for two women. I think the producers could've used that sort of support when the movie came out =p

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    1. Touche, salesman, touche! I should be someone's mascot.

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  7. Okay, you had me at Gerard Butler, but even with all the other info ... this sounds AWESOME! I can't believe I haven't seen it yet. Must.Find.Now! :)

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    1. Excellent! Glad to drag you into my web! Gerard Butler is a lovely one.

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  8. I have not seen this, but with a review like this, how can I not give it a watch. Adding to my list right now.

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    1. I have a feeling you will like the campy ridiculousness. It's just a good, fun watch.

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