Gamer

What if the characters you control in Halo and Call of Duty were living, breathing human beings? In their newest film, the minds behind Crank aim to answer just that.

The movie Gamer centers around a game called Slayers, created by multibillionaire video game tycoon Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), in which players from around the world take control of death row inmates and fight until one character dies. The premise is simple: if an inmate survives 30 battles, he is granted a full presidential pardon and released. If not, he dies a gratuitously messy death. Kable (Gerard Butler), the most famous of these inmates for having survived an unparalleled 27 matches, is controlled by Simon (Logan Lerman), who enjoys worldwide renown for his mastery of the game. Opposing Castle is Humanz, a group of rebels led by the mysterious Brother (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) that believes Castle plans to use the game’s mind-control technology to eventually rule the world.

Limbs fly, necks snap and heads explode, providing some of the most extreme violence since Saving Private Ryan. Most characters are “gibbed” soon after their introduction, literally killing any chance for empathy. As for Butler’s character, the film tries hard to make the audience connect with Kable’s struggle to find his family, but it’s difficult to sympathize with a guy that breaks seven necks without blinking and then cries about missing his daughter.

The film’s unsettling glimpse into the possible future of gaming is its strongest element. When a man dies gruesomely in front of a camera and millions of fans from around the world cheer hysterically, it beckons the question of whether society has evolved since the public executions of the French Revolution. Eerie moments like these, though few and far between, set it apart from the pack.

Though not for the faint of heart, Gamer is gory fun.