The James Logan Courier

By Shamal Asnani, Courier Staff Writer

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s latest movie, Gamer, is a science fiction action movie, which focuses on the idea of how dangerous mind control can truly be. The movies main character, Kable, is a death row inmate, who has been forced to participate in multi-billionaire Ken Castle’s latest human controlling video game, Slayer. In Slayer, death row inmates are controlled by other players, through the use of mind control, under extremely dangerous conditions, where the consequence of losing for the inmates is death.
The film does a very good job in displaying futuristic action. There is never a moment in the film where the action in the video game seems similar to just any normal action in other films. Gamer also does a great job in demonstrating the dangerous effects mind control can have on our society. The film centers around two human controlled video games, both of which show what certain people are willing to do to others with the power of mind control, no matter how degrading it might be to the person being controlled.

Although Gamer might be a great action film with a strong theme, it lacks heavily in connecting the audience to its characters. Although the Kable is being controlled by another person in a game where he could die, his possible frustration, fears, or anger are never truly emphasized in the film. Instead, the character constantly displayed a somewhat emotionless personality throughout the film. Despite the films flaws, it’s a perfect film for someone who wants to see an hour and a half of non-stop science fiction styled action, however, don’t expect to leave this movie with much more.