Devil’s DVD Disappointment: Gamer

I really wanted to like this film; after all I personally feel that Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s Dexter) and Kyra Sedgwick (TNT’s The Closer) are on top of their respective games in their current incarnations on television. I wanted to see how Gerard Butler (300) would grow as an actor after leading us against a force of thousands in his last movie. I even wanted to even see if Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor could outgrow the Crank franshise. In the end Gamer for the lack of a better phrase, has no game.

Law Abiding Citizen (Lonely Devil)

As pointed out to me by my colleague here on the blog, I’m the unofficial Gerard Butler reviewer here after writing this review for Law Abiding Citizen.  Of the movies I reviewed of his in the last few months, that include the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth and the action film Gamer, this was the best of his work this year thus far.

Gamer (Devil’s Advocate Review)

In between takes, Butler criticizes Hall's knife technique on Dexter.

The newest release from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who brought us the Crank movies, gives us this Running Man meets Deathrace combo, Gamer.  Neveldine and Taylor really reach out to today’s teenagers with this one.  We get a video game world with violence, action, and plenty of T & A to round it out.  The directors do well with the shakey cams and washed out scenes to make us feel like we are inside the video game.

Gamer

  I really wanted to like this film; after all I personally feel that Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s Dexter) and Kyra Sedgwick (TNT’s The Closer) are on top of their respective games in their current incarnations on television.  I wanted to see how Gerard Butler (300) would grow as an actor after leading us against a force of thousands in his last movie.  I even wanted to even see if Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor could outgrow the Crank franshise.  In the end Gamer for the lack of a better phrase, has no game.