Game over for 'Gamer'

CASEY PHILLIPS: As a video gamer, I think "Gamer" is only going to encourage the perception of gamers as violent shut-ins, thanks to its premise that we'll soon be emptying our prisons to slake our blood lust and spelling everything with the letter "K." As a movie fan, I was bored.

The film attempts to revisit "The Running Man," with Gerard Butler's Kable replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger. Based on these tired results, the concept is too tired to warrant a second round. Even while watching Kable running and gunning for his life, I couldn't help but think director Mark Neveldine was trying too hard to shock audiences by throwing blood packs around like strawberry jelly at a barn raising. Then again, he directed the "Crank" films, so maybe sophistication is asking too much.

HOLLY LEBER: Casey, don't forget that it also paints video gamers as slovenly and foul-mouthed, not just violent shut-ins.

In truth, I'm not really sure this can wholly be called a movie. It's about 10 percent movie, perhaps. Yes, 10 percent movie, 50 percent video game, 30 percent music video and another 10 percent soft-core porn. Does that sound about right?

Really, "Gamer" just confirms that, sometimes, it's really just about the money. First person to convince me that any of these players took their roles for the acting challenge or the artistic merit gets a cookie.

CASEY: I can't fault your math, Holly. Amber Valletta makes an appearance as Kable's woebegone wife, who is forced to take part in a sexed-up, futuristic version of "The Sims" to pay the bills. Even when she's not being remote-controlled by fat slobs with weird sexual fetishes, her performance is lifeless. About the only good thing to say about the movie is that it gets the frenetic sense of combat down pat and that Michael C. Hall's over-the-top show as the game's creator is memorable.

Clearly, the intended audience for "Gamer" isn't the kind that questions things like plot consistency, character development or plausibility. No, stuff gets blown up real good and people walk around mostly naked. That's probably enough for them. I am not of that demographic, and as a result, I found it thin to the point of distraction, not to mention offensive to gamers in general.

HOLLY: The idea behind "Gamer" isn't actually a bad one. The threat of being controlled by technology, whether physically or simply by a societally necessitated dependence is a legitimate possibility of the future. And the concept of being an actual player in a human-controlled game as a chain-gang update is creative, at least. You don't exactly look at the concept of "Gamer" and think: "Who comes up with this garbage?"

You should, however, think: "Who thought this idea would translate to the big screen?" Because here's the thing: An interesting idea, a creative idea, even a really good idea does not necessarily translate into a good movie. I could see "Gamer" as maybe a decent graphic novel, especially with fewer stereotypes and a little more clothing.

But as a movie? Like I said, it really isn't.

E-mail Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com and Holly Leber at hleber@timesfreepress.com.