Gamer

Who needs World of Warcraft?

“Gamer,” released Friday, September 4, takes the violence of video games and pushes it a step further, asking several questions that gamers tend to avoid.

What if…the people in video games were not animations, but real people?

What if…death row inmates could avoid death by participating in real life battles in a simulated world?

What if…we could take actors like Gerard Butler and Alison Lohman and pretend that they no longer have any talent?

The story follows two MMORPGs, their players, the world that watches them, and the characters that inhabit them. One game, “Society,” is basically “The Sims.” The other game, “Slayers,” is reminiscent of “Halo.” The catch? The characters in “Society” are actually human actors interested in making extra money; the characters in “Slayers” are death-row inmates choosing to prolong their lives by participating in 30 battles (for 30 lives, possibly a nod to Halo’s Konami code). Any inmates that can survive “Slayers” for thirty battles in a row are promised freedom. Unfortunately, both the characters in “Society” and in “Slayers” are limited by the skill level of the gamers controlling them and the short delay between the player and the fighter, called “the ping.” Within these constraints, slayer Kable (Gerard Butler) must rescue himself, his wife, and his daughter from the simulated universe in order to restore their lives in the real world.

“Gamer” fails in the ways that many action films fail. The battle scenes are predictable and tiresome. The acting is wooden and boring, giving little reason for the audience to care about the characters. The plot is filled with action clichés- the strong yet tormented hero leaving behind a broken family (complete with beautiful wife and cute young daughter), the vaguely humorous but effectively disposable side characters, the Matrix-style secret society bringing down the evil from behind funky hair and computer screens.

However, within the conventions of the run-of-the-mill modern action film, “Gamer” does pull through and earn a few extra bonus points and, if not 30 lives, then at least one or two. Visually, the movie works nicely, blending the cosmopolitan, media and technology-saturated world of the future with the war-like atmosphere of the prisons. The video-game sequences feel like video-game sequences, and it’s not a stretch to assume that the actors are actually tech-puppets of remote individuals. The plot itself is intriguing and does peak the audience’s interest (though personally, I would have preferred a few more winks towards other MMORPGs. Imagine the warden telling the prison inmates that today, they must dress up as elves and wizards and fight each other with lasers, all to appease the fantasies of the real-life gamers. Groans and eye-rolls all around, and cheering crowds of Lord of the Rings fans watching Slayers on flatscreens). Supervillain Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) would have worked better as a bumbling CEO rather than an evil mastermind, but he does bring the amusement whenever he’s on screen.

In the end, “Gamer” will appeal to the same audience it criticizes- actual gamers. People looking for a great work of cinema will be advised to switch theaters. Maybe they can make a game of passing the ticket ushers. After all, what are other people but non-player characters waiting to be bypassed?

Warning: Contains material that may not be suitable for children, including violence, profanity, and an incredibly random song-and-dance number ala “West Side Story.” Grade: C+