Gamer

Ein saudummer Film über saudumme Dinge, der versucht, IN zu sein und über den Dingen zu stehen, bis er sich vollends in die allumfassende Demenz verstrickt ... das einzige, was es hierin zu sehen gibt, ist die Muskulatur von Gerard Butler sowie das Zeitlupentempo eines fliegenden Offroaders. Ansonsten würde ich das Taylor-Neveldine-Regieduo lieber wieder bei sinnlosen Actionfilmen sehen, zumal diese dystopische Satire auf den Kopf gefallen ist. Und es gehört irgendwo in den Hoheitsbereich von Casper Van Dien sowie kanadischen D-Produktionen. (09.09.2009)

Ja, so stelle ich mir einen flotten Actionfilm vor, der keine Angst hat, Blut zu zeigen (das in alle Richtungen spritzt), und 90 Minuten lang schwungvoll und unterhaltsam ist. Besonders im Vergleich zum langweiligen Crank ist Gamer fast ein Meisterwerk. Dreieinhalb Sterne: Ein Stern gehört Butler, der zweite Michael C. Hall, der dritte den perfekten Kämpfen im exakten Videospiel-Stil (obwohl der Cutter wahrscheinlich der Teufel selbst war)… Einen halben Stern bekommen die Autoren, weil sie sich um eine gewisse Kritik der Gesellschaft bemüht haben. PS: Die "Tanznummer" im Finale ist wirklich sehenswert. (24.04.2010)

I did get the message the creators wanted to pass on to the viewers. I enjoy playing and I know quite well how addictive gaming can be. It's also clear to me where online gaming is going, but the form seemed rather unfortunate. The film had its bright moments, but most of the time I wasn’t all that impressed, and the ending was schematic and ineffective. (27.10.2020)

This was a nice surprise. Neveldine and Taylor keep on making the same films, but they’ve finally put their frenzied audiovisual style into the world where it belongs. I take back what I said earlier because this wacky aesthetic fits the game plot very well, and from my point of view, it projects more than I counted in both Crank films. True, the "society game" gives vent to their fetishistic perversions (I can't help but wonder how well they’d do at porn), but "Slayers" gets some positives. Butler's undeniable charisma and Hall's wacky sleaziness contribute to this. The ending makes you think. On the one hand, the filmmakers are filming in an exaggerated style that demands the audience’s brain to be in "stand by" mode, but at the same time, they have inserted criticism of the system and social attitudes towards games, the death penalty, etc. So when these two directors stop moralizing next time, maybe they’ll even get 4 stars. 3 ½. (22.11.2009)

So this was a bit of a disappointment. They could’ve gotten much more out of Gamer and you can clearly see that in some scenes. Neveldine and Taylor are literally bursting with ideas, sadly not all of them are good and some crossed the line of good taste (I get it with the Crank franchise, but this was meant to be a movie for the wider public, dammit). The whole part where they’re playing “Society" came across as unnecessary and very, very over the top. On the other hand, Hall’s puppeteering finale (amazing dance scene “I’ve Got You Under My Skin") is perfect and so fresh. It’s a shame the movie is so self-contradictory. It’s a wasted opportunity. (22.11.2009)