2009 - Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
 Starring Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, Michael C. Hall, Logan Lerman, Kyra Sedgwick and Ludacris

 I’d venture a guess that the stereotyped audience for this film would be a 17 yr old gaming nut who’s addicted to Grand Theft Auto, which doesn’t describe me at all, but I’ve really enjoyed the films that Neveldine/Taylor have put out thus far and I’ll continue to watch as long as they keep it visually interesting. 

 The action this time around takes place within an actual video game rather than just a world in which people behave like they’re in a video game: The year is 2034, and the popularity of a virtual reality environment game called Society (which allows the player to take control of an actual human being and interact in a live action ‘Sims’ or ‘Second Life’ styled situations) has given way to Slayers, in which the player can control death row convicts in a war torn landscape, with 30 successful battles equaling a pardon for the inmate.  The most famous face of the Slayers game is Kable (Butler), a war hero (wrongly imprisoned, ‘natch) who is ‘played’ in the game by a spoiled young rich kid named Simon (Lerman) and is an unprecedented 3 battles away from earning his freedom.

 Kable’s wife Angie (Valletta) is in her own prison of sorts, trapped as a prostitute avatar played by an enormous housebound internet junkie who is in the film simply to make the audience nauseous every time the camera zooms in on his mouth.  Actually, were I a gamer, the depiction of people playing these games would probably offend me immensely, but instead it only offends me visually; the guy is repugnant.

 The man responsible for both Society and Slayers is Ken Castle, played by Michael C. Hall, who plays the role with an assholish relish that makes you want to slap the fuck out of him from the first moment he opens his mouth.  He’s got this casual ‘aw shucks’ drawl that makes the shitty things he’s saying all the more irritating, but even a man as powerful as Castle still has a few thorns in his side.  A hacker group called Humanz, led by Ludacris (credited on the IMDB as Humanz Brother?) break in on a live news program where Gina Parker Smith (Sedgwick) is interviewing Castle, speaking out against Castle’s nanite technology and what they contend is the dangerous ability it gives Castle to control people.  Castle seem to view this as an amusing annoyance and is more concerned with Kable’s continuing success in the game.

 Castle introduces a warrior into the Slayers environment with an edge over Kable: he’s uncontrolled, meaning he has no ping between a player telling him what to do in battle, he’s meant to do nothing but take out Kable.  The Humanz reach out to Simon, providing him with information about Kable’s bogus crime, as well as the ability to speak to Kable within the game using modded software.  Knowing that he can’t count on Simon to defeat the uncontrolled enemy, Kable begs him to let him fight for himself, plotting a daring escape from the gaming course and back into the real world environment where he can free his wife and find their child.

 I’ve always said that I’m a huge fan of style over substance, and this film bears that out yet again, as there’s nothing revolutionary here, but it’s a fun ride and I was sold on it from the word go.  The visuals are stylish and slick, the atmosphere is sleazy (Society seems to be filled with nothing but sex avatars!) and the violence is in your face and over the top.  What’s not to love?

I really dug Michael C. Hall ’s performance, he just oozes smugfuck superiority from the first moment you see him on screen, and Gerard Butler taking time away from making forgettable, shitty romantic comedies is always a good thing, as he seems to excel in action roles when given the chance.

 This movie isn’t reinventing the wheel or anything like that, instead, it moves along at a decent pace, never getting too bogged down as it tries to free the characters from their video game trappings and get them back to the real world.  It’s got a hero you want to win and a villain you want to throw down an elevator shaft, and isn’t that what you want from a fun popcorn movie at the end of the day?

 It’s a wild ride, give it a rental.

7/10