After rewatching Gamer for the first time since it came out, I began to wonder if this movie was actually ahead of its time. Of course, the idea of the prison system using convicts to run death races and play death games are not new, so this makes Gamer more of a Death Race for the Fortnite generation. Except Fortnite wasn't a thing yet. Makes you wonder if this movie came out in 2019 if it would have been more relevant and received better. Meh, probably not. That is not to say Gamer is a bad movie. But without some fundamental changes to the way it was shot and some of the story, it would still be a hard sell nowadays.
The plot sees Gerald Butler as Kable, a convicted murderer who is the champion of the real-life game death game Slayers. It is a battle royale game for actual prisoners. Slayers itself is a spin-off of a game called Society. Which is a Second Lifestyle world where people are paid to allow other users to take control of their real-life bodies as avatars. As expected, the people using the avatars are all about how much sex, drugs, and debauchery that they can inflict on their human avatars. The creator of both games, Castle, has a nefarious plan up his sleeve that includes both killing Kable, and taking over the minds of everyone on the planet. With the help of his player, and a secret resistance cell called Humanz, Kable must stop Castle and save the world, his wife, his daughter, and yadda-yadda.
While I enjoyed Gamer a lot better this time around, it is still a very flawed film. It's love of quick cuts, fast editing, and blurry shots which rewind themselves makes some parts of the movie very hard to physically watch. Add that to the bland and washed out visuals of "real" life, and when the Slayers are fighting, and the movie can go from dull to unwatchable in seconds. Which is too bad, because I am sure some of the action scenes would have been a lot more fun if I could watch them. That washed-out color palette hampers the viewing experience as well. It would have been nice to see the Slayers world as colorful as the world of its sister game Society. I think Fortnite alone has proven that even when killing each other, kids playing videogames want to put colorful hats and costumes on their avatars. Adding color to the stark reality of gamers controlling and killing actual people shows how disconnected they are from reality. It's a theme that works for the most part in the movie, but would be made more effective with a splash of color.
All that being said, I still think Gamer is a bit of an underrated movie. I am not saying it is a classic film that people never gave a chance. It's well-acted with a solid cast and a surprisingly large amount of recognizable faces in the secondary cast. The world of Society is weird and outlandish with vibrant colors, sex, nudity, and strange characters. The real people avatars are always a few seconds behind their handlers, leading to a creepy robotic world filled with actual human avatars. As little as it was used, I also liked the banter between Kable and his player, Simon. It's a piece of the story that I feel was very underutilized to get across more action and less connection. The villain was also used sparingly, which is a shame. Michael C Hall plays Castle perfectly, and the weirdness of a man with infinite money and no consequences is fun to watch in every scene he is in. Which isn't a lot. That makes it hard to really hate the villain when you barely seem him.
I am now probably the only one who would like this movie to be redone with added color, more stand out villains in Slayers, and a ton less quick cuts. Let the action play out. As it stands, I think Gamer is deserving of a rewatch in this Post-Fortnite world. It's better than I had given it credit for. But how does it rank up in the Action Movie Showcase?
The Showcase
1 – The Butler of Battle Royales – 8/10 – Gerald Butler and the rest of the cast do a good job at making a reused premise become great. Also, with cameos by Keith David, Milo Ventalgia, and James Roday and Maggie Lawson from Psych, rounded out the cast perfectly.
2 – A World of Style – 5/10 – The world of Society showed its weird colors with crazy costumes, strange locales, and a lot of detached people playing out their fantasies online. All of this was great except the weird never bled over into Slayers, which used washed out browns and greys to be boring.
3 – Action Game The Movie – 6/10 – I liked the action in this film, and it would have been a lot more enjoyable without the quick cuts and weird rewinds.
4 – A Story for the Ages – 5/10 – No, not in the way of being a classic of its era, but more of a rehash of movies that did it better. Although, if you think of the Battle Royale era of gaming we live in now, it at least makes Gamer more relevant ten years later.
5 – Villanous Intent – 4/10 – All the points here go to Hall's Castle character. He is weird and awful while making you laugh at his goofiness. The loss of points goes to not having one stand out mini-boss in Slayers for Butler to fight.
Bonus Round
Weird and Colorful – 1 point for the craziness and weirdly accurate online personas in Society.
Ahead of its time while being Behind the times – 2 Bonus points for being more relevant ten years later with its Battle Royale concept, but minus one of those points for the same reason.
Final Score
30/50
Gamer plays its way to a score of 30/50. Which makes it one of the more respectable showings in the showdown.