"Gamer"
by: Paolo Sardinas

Remember two years ago, when we first got a glimpse at the power and intensity raging inside of Gerrard Butler. Sure you do. That movie was 300, the already cult classic, released about two years ago shined not only visually, but it also shined Butler. Since then, Gerrard's movies have gone from, "RAWR!" to "WHAH!".

"Gamer", the latest from the creators of "Crank 1&2", is not necessarily terrible, but it is pretty bad. Based in the year 2034, mind control is all the rage, and a brand new game is taking the world by storm(I guess things haven't changed that much). The game, called "Slayers", allows the player to control death row prisoners in grand scale death matches. Think of Death Race, minus the cars and add in raves. Any prisoner who can live threw 30 games gets to go free. Doesn't sound so bad. Simon(Logan Lerman) controls Kable(Butler), the Mr.Olympia of death row prisoners. What ensues is explosions, adrenaline(lots of it), and more explosions.

Now its not that the whole premise to "Gamer" is a bad one. Its just to drunk, and overdosed on adrenaline, that you end up caring more about the explosions and lesbian make out scenes, than really the characters themselves. The performances throught the film aren't terrible but they're not good either. Gerard Butler gives another second rate performance. His other failures were the romantic comedies, "P.S. I Love You", and "The Ugly Truth", which was, well, ugly. Kyra Sedgwick plays the future Oprah. Her performance, very similar to that of Joan Allen's in Death Race, is abit second rate as well. A surprise coming from the star of "Cable's #1 show!"

The only truly entertaining performance was that of Michael C Hall. A terrific actor, who can not only tackle many different roles, but can just act in general. "Gamer" is filled with a boat load of unnecessary things. The main one is actor/rapper Ludacris, who not only kills the movie, he pretty much shoots it in the head. The visuals as well made as they were still could've been abit better.

The film not only plays like something we've seen millions of times before, it also brings nothing new to the table. The story, as original and clever as it may be, gets lost amongst all of the other "adrenaline-fueled action". Butler will eventually turn into an action star. As unpredictable as that may be, its still the truth. A shame in his case. All in all, "Gamer" wasn't a bad idea it was just executed poorily. Instead of actually entertaining you after you left the theater, it instead established something else that was already known, men love boob shots. Grade: D