Gamer (2009 film)

Last updated
Gamer
Gamermovie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Neveldine/Taylor
Written byNeveldine & Taylor
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEkkehart Pollack
Edited by
  • Peter Amundson
  • Fernando Villena
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • September 4, 2009 (2009-09-04)
Running time
95 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million [2]
Box office$42 million [2]

Gamer is a 2009 American science fiction action film written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. [3] The film stars Gerard Butler as a participant in an online game in which participants can control human beings as players, and Logan Lerman as the player who controls him. Alongside Butler and Lerman, it also stars Michael C. Hall, Ludacris, Amber Valletta, Terry Crews, Alison Lohman, John Leguizamo, Sam Witwer and Zoë Bell.

Contents

Gamer was released in North America on September 4, 2009, receiving generally negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing $42 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million.

Plot

In 2034, computer programmer Ken Castle invents self-replicating nanites that replace brain tissue and allow humans to control other humans' actions and see through their eyes. The first application of Castle's "Nanex" technology is a virtual community life simulation game, Society, which allows gamers to manipulate live actors as their avatars. Society becomes a worldwide sensation, making Castle the richest man in the world. He then creates Slayers, a third-person shooter where the "characters" are death-row prisoners using real weapons in specially designated areas. Unlike Society actors, Slayers participants are not paid; instead, they volunteer, and any Slayer who survives 30 matches will earn their freedom. John "Kable" Tillman is everyone's favorite, having survived a record 27 matches, and is controlled by Simon.

An activist organization called the "Humanz" hacks a talk-show interview with Castle and claims that his technology will one day be used to control people against their will. The Humanz also disrupts Society play, but Castle sees both these actions as trivial. However, Castle feels threatened by Kable's winning streak and introduces a new inmate into Slayers, Hackman, specifically to kill Kable. Unknown to anyone else, Hackman will not be controlled by a player, thus not be handicapped by the "ping" that causes a small but dangerous delay between the player's command and the Slayer's action.

Kable/Tillman's estranged wife, Angie, works as a Society character, but in spite of her earnings, she is refused custody of their daughter, Delia, who has been placed with a wealthy foster family.

The Humanz contact Kable and Simon separately and offer to create a mod that will let him escape, but only if Simon relinquishes control during the game. The escape is successful, and news outlets report that Kable has been fragged, which puts Simon in a difficult position: he is labeled a "cheater", locked out of his account, and arrested by the FBI for helping Kable escape.

Kable is brought to the Humanz' hideout; he refuses to help their fight against Castle but learns of Angie's current location in Society. He rescues her, escaping from both Hackman and Castle's security forces. Gina, the talk show host who secretly assists the Humanz, meets them. The Humanz deactivates the nanites in Angie and Kable's brains, and Kable remembers that the original nanites were tested on him while he was still in the military. Under Castle's control, Kable shot and killed his best friend and was imprisoned.

Upon learning that Castle is the wealthy father who adopted Delia, Kable infiltrates his mansion to get her back. He locates Castle, who reveals that his henchmen have already tracked down the Humanz' lair and killed all of them. He also reveals that 98% of his own brain has been replaced with nanites, but this allows him to control others rather than be controlled. He plans to release airborne nanites, which will infect the entire country within six months, giving him ultimate control. Hackman attacks Kable, who easily kills him. Kable then attacks Castle but is frozen in place as Castle explains that his men have reactivated his and Angie's nanites. Unknown to Castle, Gina and Trace escape and patch into the Nanex, exposing the confrontation to the world and exposing Castle's plans worldwide. They also restore Simon's account, allowing him to regain control of Kable.

Castle tries to manipulate Kable into killing his own daughter, but he resists, and then Simon's control allows him to attack Castle. He and Simon wrestle for control over Kable, but Kable tells Castle to imagine his knife stabbing him. Castle unconsciously does so, allowing Kable to kill him and removing his control over everyone. With Castle dead, Kable convinces his technicians to deactivate the Nanex, freeing all the "characters" in Society and Slayers.

Cast

Joseph D. Reitman and John de Lancie appear as senior members of Castle’s company. Lloyd Kaufman appears as Genericon. James Roday Rodriguez and Maggie Lawson cameo as news anchors. Michael Weston appears as one of Smith's producers. Sam Witwer appears as a social worker.

Production

Development

In May 2007, Lakeshore Entertainment re-teamed with Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the creators of Crank (2006), to produce a "high-concept futuristic thriller" called Game. Neveldine and Taylor wrote the script for Game and were slated to direct the film, while actor Gerard Butler was cast into the lead role. [4]

Filming

Principal photography took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a 53-day shoot. Filming was at the Albuquerque Studios and on location around Albuquerque. Multistory sets were built on parking lots in downtown Albuquerque to depict buildings that were blown up in the film, and other sets were built on the back lots near the studios. [5] The crew used special hand-held Red One digital cameras, which allowed the special effects team to begin work, normally done in post-production, after each day's shooting. [6]

Title

In March 2009, the film's working title was changed from Game to Citizen Game. [7] [8] In May 2009, another name change was announced, the new name being Gamer. [9] [10] [11]

Release

Box office

Gamer had an opening day gross of $3.3 million and ranked fourth at the box office. In total, the film earned $9.2 million in its opening weekend. Overall, the film grossed $21.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $20.7 million in other territories for worldwide cumulative of $42 million, against its $50 million budget. [2]

Critical reception

Metacritic rated Gamer 27/100 based on 14 reviews, which it terms "generally unfavorable reviews". [12] The film holds a 29% rating from 82 reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 4.25/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With all of the hyperkinetic action and none of the flair of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's earlier work, Gamer has little replay value." [13] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C" on scale of A to F. [14]

Critic Joe Neumaier of The New York Daily News called it a "Xerox of a Xerox" and cited a number of films it supposedly takes elements from, including The Matrix and Rollerball . [15] RVA Magazine wrote that Gamer's plot was overly similar to The Condemned and commented that Gamer "hates its primary audience" and "tries to criticize the commercialization of violence, even though it itself is commercialized violence". [16]

Cultural critic Steven Shaviro authored a 10,000 word defense and analysis of the film that he posted online, and eventually re-worked into the penultimate chapter of his book, Post-Cinematic Affect (Zer0 Books, 2010). [17]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Conversation</i> 1974 film by Francis Ford Coppola

The Conversation is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robert Duvall. Hackman portrays a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential murder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Butler</span> Scottish actor and film producer (born 1969)

Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as Mrs Brown (1997), the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, he starred as Count Dracula in the gothic horror film Dracula 2000 with Christopher Plummer and Jonny Lee Miller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logan Lerman</span> American actor (born 1992)

Logan Wade Lerman is an American actor. He appeared in commercials in the mid-1990s, before starring in the series Jack & Bobby (2004–2005) and the movies The Butterfly Effect (2004) and Hoot (2006). Lerman gained further recognition for playing the title character in the Percy Jackson film series, d'Artagnan in 2011's The Three Musketeers, starred in the coming-of-age dramas The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Indignation (2016) and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017), and had major roles in the 2014 films Noah and Fury. In 2020, he returned to television with the series Hunters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Lohman</span> American actress (born 1979)

Alison Marion Lohman is an American actress. She began her career with small roles in short and independent films, and had a breakthrough as the star of the drama film White Oleander (2002), which earned her recognition and a Young Hollywood Award. She earned praise for her performances in the fantasy film Big Fish (2003) and the dark comedy film Matchstick Men (2003), winning a Hollywood Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter. She lent her voice to the 2005 redub of the 1984 animated film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and starred in the sitcom Tucker (2000–2001) before taking a role in the soap opera Pasadena (2001).

<i>Scarecrow</i> (1973 film) 1973 film

Scarecrow is a 1973 American road drama film directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. The story involves the relationship between two men who travel from California seeking to start a business in Pittsburgh.

<i>Crank</i> (film) 2006 American action film

Crank is a 2006 American action film directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. It stars Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez and Dwight Yoakam. The title of the film comes from a slang word for methamphetamine. In the film, Chev Chelios (Statham), a LA–based assassin, is poisoned by a synthetic drug and must keep his adrenaline flowing constantly to keep himself alive, while trying to track down the culprits responsible for poisoning him. It was followed by a sequel titled Crank: High Voltage.

<i>Dracula III: Legacy</i> 2005 vampire film by Patrick Lussier

Dracula III: Legacy is a 2005 vampire film and the sequel to Dracula 2000 and Dracula II: Ascension. The film was directed by Patrick Lussier and stars Jason Scott Lee, Jason London, Roy Scheider, and Diane Neal. It was released direct-to-video on July 12, 2005.

<i>RocknRolla</i> 2008 film by Guy Ritchie

RocknRolla is a 2008 crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast that includes Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandiwe Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Toby Kebbell, Jeremy Piven and Chris Bridges. It was released in the United Kingdom on 5 September 2008, reaching number one in the UK box office in its first week of release. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Crank: High Voltage</i> 2009 American action film

Crank: High Voltage is a 2009 American action film directed by Neveldine/Taylor, and stars Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Clifton Collins Jr., Efren Ramirez, Bai Ling, David Carradine and Dwight Yoakam. It is the sequel to the 2006 film Crank and also features several cameo appearances of celebrities from various fields of entertainment. In the film, Chev Chelios (Statham) survives from the deadly fall and gets kidnapped by Chinese doctors, who harvest his heart and replace it with an artificial one, which is designed to keep him alive for an hour. Chev sets out to find his heart while keeping himself electrically charged to stay alive.

<i>Aliens in the Attic</i> 2009 film by John Schultz

Aliens in the Attic is a 2009 American science fiction comedy film directed by John Schultz and written by Mark Burton and Adam F. Goldberg, based on an original story conceived by Burton. Starring Carter Jenkins, Austin Butler, Ashley Tisdale, Gillian Vigman, Andy Richter, Doris Roberts, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon, and Tim Meadows, with the voices of Josh Peck, J. K. Simmons, Kari Wahlgren, and Thomas Haden Church, the plot revolves around the children in the Pearson family defending their vacation home against a group of aliens, who are planning an invasion of Earth until one of the aliens betrays them and joins the Pearson children in battle.

<i>Law Abiding Citizen</i> 2009 action thriller film by F. Gary Gray

Law Abiding Citizen is a 2009 American vigilante action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray, written by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. The film takes place in Philadelphia, telling the story of a man driven to seek justice while targeting not only his family's killer but also those who have supported a corrupt criminal justice system, intending to assassinate anyone supporting the system. Law Abiding Citizen was filmed on location in Philadelphia, and released theatrically by Overture Films in North America on October 16, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Tillman</span> American baseball player (born 1988)

Christopher Steven Tillman is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2009, and played with them until 2018. He was named an All-Star in 2013.

Nanopunk refers to an emerging subgenre of science fiction that is still very much in its infancy in comparison to its ancestor-genre, cyberpunk, and some of its other derivatives.

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are two American filmmakers who formerly collaborated as a filmmaking duo. They are sometimes referred to as Neveldine & Taylor or Neveldine/Taylor. Their written and directed productions are known for being dark, edgy, bizarre, and over-the-top, while maintaining a small budget. Both Neveldine and Taylor have written and directed several films together that include Crank and its sequel, Crank: High Voltage.

<i>Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance</i> 2011 film by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics antihero Ghost Rider. It is a sequel to the 2007 film Ghost Rider and features Nicolas Cage reprising his role as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider with supporting roles portrayed by Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert, and Idris Elba. The film was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, from a screenplay written by Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, and David S. Goyer. Released publicly for one night on December 11, 2011, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance had its wide commercial release on February 17, 2012, in 2D and 3D. Johnny Blaze is the Ghost Rider cursed to hunt demons, and he is approached by a secret religious sect to help protect a young boy named Danny, who is believed to be a target of the devil's minions.

<i>Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate</i> 2013 video game

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by MercurySteam for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which served as a reboot of the Castlevania franchise. Players control multiple characters as they explore a labyrinthine castle and piece together the mystery of Dracula's return.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightmare in Silver</span> 2013 Doctor Who episode

"Nightmare in Silver" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on BBC One on 11 May 2013. It was written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Stephen Woolfenden.

<i>Geostorm</i> 2017 science fiction film by Dean Devlin

Geostorm is a 2017 American science-fiction disaster film directed, cowritten, and coproduced by Dean Devlin. The film stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It follows a satellite designer who tries to save the world from a storm of epic proportions caused by malfunctioning climate-controlling satellites.

<i>Greenland</i> (film) 2020 film by Ric Roman Waugh

Greenland is a 2020 American apocalyptic survival disaster thriller film directed by Ric Roman Waugh and written by Chris Sparling. The film stars Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Scott Glenn, David Denman, and Hope Davis, and follows a family who must fight for survival as a planet-destroying comet races to Earth.

<i>Copshop</i> 2021 film by Joe Carnahan

Copshop is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Joe Carnahan and written by Kurt McLeod and Carnahan, based on a story by McLeod and Mark Williams. The film stars Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, and Alexis Louder, and is set in a small-town police station that becomes the battleground between a hitman, a novice police officer, and a con artist.

References

  1. ↑ "GAMER (18)". British Board of Film Classification . August 14, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gamer (2009)". The Numbers. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Clip - Gamer". DreadCentral. January 20, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  4. ↑ Guider, Elizabeth (May 16, 2007). "Lakeshore, Butler to play Game". Variety . Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  5. ↑ Kamerick, Megan (August 31, 2007). "New film production fills Albuquerque Studios". New Mexico Business Weekly. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  6. ↑ Douglas, Edward (November 19, 2007). "On the Set of Gerard Butler's New Sci-Fi Action Flick!". ComingSoon. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  7. ↑ "IGN: Citizen Game Trailer, Wallpaper, Pictures, Soundtrack and More". IGN. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Lionsgate Publicity". Lionsgate Publicity. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Gamer – In Theaters September 4". Gamerthemovie.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Exclusive Poster Premiere: Gamer - UGO.com". Movieblog.ugo.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Updated: Another name change for Game + new motion poster + Trailer on Xbox live". Quietearth.us. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Gamer (2009)". Metacritic . Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Gamer". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  14. ↑ "GAMER (2009) C". CinemaScore . Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  15. ↑ Neumaier, Joe (September 4, 2009). "New York Daily News reviewed negatively of Gamer". Daily News . Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  16. ↑ "RVA's review of Gamer". RVA Magazine . September 4, 2009. Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Gamer". Steven Shaviro. 15 December 2009. Retrieved January 2, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.