Movie Review: Gamer

First there was Rollerball (the original) then came The Running Man. Add in a bit of Resident Evil (at least how it plays off of it's video game origins) and when you mix it all up you get Gamer. Well a handfull of hallucinogens helps too.

Perhaps its the fact that I'm a bit older than the target audience of Gamer. Or maybe I'm just not ADHD enough to flow with the kalidescope of scenes that dominate this film. But whatever the reason, this film sucked.

Let's start with the opening of the movie. It's frentic. Filled with explosions and and guns and lots of running around. Kind of like what you got in Saving Private Ryan, except not as focused or motivating. If you are prone to epileptic fits, good luck to you.

The film doesn't get much better from there. It's constantly trying to have things moving at hyperspeed at every step. Even just moving from one place to another without any gunfire is a series of jumpaction, shaky, flashes. It gives me the impression that the editor was on cocaine, and the director wanted the audience to feel that same kind of rush. Sadly though, it doesn't work in a positive way.

Aside from that, there of course is what passes for a plot these days. To say that it is full of holes and bad would be an upgrade of my opinion. The remake of Deathrace 2000 (called simply Death Race with Jason Statham) is almost logical and intellectual comparatively.

What are the problems?

**Spoiler**

Well let's go with the girl in the prison/holding area. How did she get there? Why doesn't anyone notice her interaction with Kable (Gerard Butler - our protagonist)? Why isn't she spotted since she stands out massively?

Another issue is the world domination theme. Was it really necessary? And why would the rest of the corporate lackeys go along with it, without being controled?

Or how about killing Kable in the most simple way possible. Just hold him in place as anyone shoots him. It's not like the film doesn't mention that there are internet drags and glitches just like now.

Or how does the kid, who had all his computers hacked, suddenly have the power to get back in control of Kable? Why is Kable a hero to the masses that have no clue what is going on? How does all of that get broadcast live?

Spoiler over

Seriously there are a dozen different issues in the film. But as bad as they are, the contrived end of the movie is just the worst part of it. Like they couldn't figure out what to do next so they stole the ending from Blade Runner, essentially.

Ok, skip what little plot there was. How was the acting?

Well I must say that Ludacris was not out of place. Which considering that I find his acting about as good as gangsta rap, is not a compliment. Yes, it was really that bad. He was about as emotive and compelling as watching static.

The shame is that he was on par with all the other actors in the film. Everyone was just here for the paycheck and it shows (Kyra Sedgwick, John Leguizamo, Amber Valleta, Keith David all included). Perhaps Michael C. Hall (of Dexter fame) was the best actor in the film. And he seemed asleep virtually every time he has a scene. Except when he was singing and dancing. That showed a bit of the talent that he has.

The soundtrack was good though. Several interesting revisions of older songs that really work well with the more stable scenes. And a few that hit the right tone for the more addict-looking-for-a-fix scenes.

I love videogames. I'm an avid fan of MMO's (I've played almost all the major ones to date). Explosions and gunfire are always a bonus to most any film. But none of these things can combine to make Gamer a good film.

If you haven't seen the film in theaters yet, congratulations. Don't buy the DVD. I wouldn't even recommend watching this when it hits cable.

If you want to spend 90 minutes watching something to entertain and distract your mind, try any of the films I've already mentioned. This film steals ideas from all of them, and they all do it much better.

Movie Preview: Gamer

There is no question that video games are the wave of the future. The industry has steadily moved to become one of the leading forms of entertainment, and massively multiplayer online games have a firm grip in forging that path. But what will the future bring?

That is the question posed in the upcoming film Gamer. This is basically a revised mix of the Running Man and Death Race (or Death Race 2000 if you are younger and did not see the original).



From the trailer we are sure of a couple of things. First is the fact that there will be enough explosions for any action movie or video game fan. Based on the reaction to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that should be enough to garner $100 million in the box office.

Of course there is a lose plot to the movie. The lead is Kable (Gerard Butler) who is most likely a wrongly convicted criminal (aren’t they always) who is brought into the game – called Slayer – to draw attention. It is highly likely that Kable has a wife and child, is a former military hero of some distinction, and is never supposed to see freedom again.

Somehow the convicts are implanted with devices that allows a gameplayer to takeover the body of the convict and control how they act, with some input from the convict direct to the player. This is all televised as well. Does this sound familiar?

Inevitably Kable is helped along in the game by Freek (John Leguizamo – been a while since he was in a major movie), and in trying to escape the corrupt system by Ludacris (don’t know his character’s name – though he seems to be trying to evade his rap image by going under his real name in the credits). Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall of Dexter fame) is of course the corrupt mastermind of the game and intent on ensuring that no one ever reaches the 30 wins that will free them of the game and prison. [I know we have heard this all before]

Keith David and Kyra Sedgwick both have small roles in the film as well. Don’t expect to see much of them though.

I think you can figure out the whole movie, because we have seen it before. It may well be too much to ask for a surprise ending, or a reasonable plot twist. But that does not mean the film cannot be worth the money.

The director of the film is Mark Neveldine. The name may not be familiar to everyone, but if you liked Crank and/or Crank: High Voltage then you have seen his work. Thus in this film you can expect lots of explosions, plenty of fast moving cut scenes, more than a few fist fights, and 5 minutes of slow moving plot to tie up the big questions. Neveldine is also the writer of this film as well as the Crank movies, so the plot will be basically flowing.

This looks like a decent big budget popcorn film. No Oscars of course, but still engaging enough for the likely 90 minutes it will run. The big question to this film is can it do the story we all know, with enough new scenes and explosions to draw the 18 – 35 video gamers they are targeting? Another question I wonder about is will the use of a rapper drag down the film, as they normally do, or has Chris Bridges (Ludacris) taken enough acting lessons to have his bit role justify the time he will be on screen?

Ultimately the answers will come in September when this film is slated to open.

Movie Preview: The Princess and the Frog

Ok, so call me late to the party. I don’t follow kid’s films much, nor do I follow Disney. So I missed a bunch of the controversy that is The Princess and the Frog. Perhaps you missed it as well.

The film will be released in December of this year. Here is a trailer.



If you think I might have problems with this film, you should hear what friends of mine mentioned when they heard about this film. The more we thought about the film the more issues came up.

The story originally went like this:
A prince from a fictional African nation comes to New Orleans to listen to jazz. While here he meets a spoiled brat rich White girl, and her Black maid. Both girls find him attractive. Somehow he comes afoul of a bad Voodoo priest that turns him into a frog. He gets the Black girl to kiss him, turning her into a frog. They both go to a good Voodoo Priestess and get changed back to humans, fall in love somewhere along the way, and live happily ever after.

Thus Disney gets to cash in on the influx of positive Black films, the popularity of President Obama, and make a claim at being racially sensitive.

Except there are problems. First the name of the Black girl has changed from Maddy to Princess Tiana. This is odd since America has no royalty. And why would royalty work as a maid?


Second, this is billed as the first Black Disney princess. Hello, did anyone watch Aladdin? The entire movie is filled with Black people. Princess Jasmine was the first Black princess, it’s just that everyone seemed to skip over the permanent suntan she and every character had. But as a friend mentioned, this will be the first American Black princess, which goes back to what I said above.

Third the film is situated after the Civil War and the 13th Amendment. But it is a period piece around the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. This means that Jim Crow and segregation were in full effect. Meaning that the prince would never have seen or spoken to Tiana, and if he did she likely would have been hung for her boldness. That was how the South was those days.

And of course this says nothing of the fact that a prince would never speak with a commoner in those days. Even now it is highly unlikely, and generally occurs due to other circumstances like Prince Edward fighting in Iraq.

Lastly, a White Southern woman of that time period would never be seen after a Black man, at least in public. Even if he was a prince. Her family would have disowned her, and likely killed or given extreme suggestions to leave to the prince.

What is effectively happening is that the South is being romanticized yet again. Facts are being thrown out the window so Disney can make money. And our youth are losing a piece of the truth and history of the nation yet again.

Add to this the fact that the animators at Disney seem to be very lazy of late. Princess Tiana looks remarkably like several other Disney princesses, just with a tan. She is hardly distinct, or drawn with any relative connection to any racial group.

But the film has a huge list of top names. Oprah Winfrey, Terrance Howard, John Goodman, and Keith David head the leading voices in the movie. Tiana will be voiced by Anika Noni Rose, who seems to be a singer (never heard her sing) and actress (she has been in several plays as well as the movie Dreamgirls). I really can’t recall her in anything, but I’ll blame that on being older.

Expect to see lots of hype about this movie. It goes with the trend right now to show a lot of Black people in things. Like the background of ads, or as additional characters in television shows. It’s the Obama effect. A limited effect where you get to see more people of color without them gaining any real importance or positions of leadership in anything.

Because if Disney really cared about being racially sensitive, or even aware, they could have added Black characters into movies for decades. They even could have promoted Aladdin as such. But instead they played down the thought of leading, or secondary characters, as anything but White. Up until now. [Though I should note that Lilo and Stitch did have a full cast of people of color – and were intended to be seen as people of color.]

Honestly, I don’t find the fact that this is a film focused on a Black character from Disney as a positive. It’s not like they never knew the color black was in their coloring inks. It just emphasizes that with the Civil Rights Movement, and decades of laws and action, it has taken nearly half a century for Disney to acknowledge African Americans. It just reminds me that taking all the people of color in front of and behind the cameras all add up to less than 10% of the people in Hollywood.

Perhaps I’m too sensitive, but that is my nature. At least I’m honest about what bugs me. At least I try to look at America’s past with open eyes to the good and the bad. At least I’m not trying to profit on the back of President Obama, like this is one big marketing experiment.

Disney is doing a film about a Black woman. It’s about time. Now let’s hope it’s good.