Explosions coming from every corner of the frame? Check. Torched cars barreling through the air? Check. Dozens of bullets blanketing the screen? Check. Could this perhaps be the latest action-packed film from Michael Bay?! No, surprisingly its not. Its Gamer from directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. You know, Neveldine and Taylor. The gentlemen who brought us Crank and Crank: High Voltage.
Didn’t see them huh? Don’t sweat it, neither did I. That’s not to say they weren’t any good…I just never got around to seeing ‘em.

The duo’s latest film, Gamer, takes place in the not too distant future and follows Kabel (300’s Gerard Butler), one of many death-row inmates forced into participating in “Slayers”: an ultra-violent multi-player online game created by the reclusive twisted billionaire, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall).

In Slayers inmates are controlled remotely through by high-paying participants using a pseudo-virtual mind control interface. To Kabel’s highly-skilled controller Simon, and the other paying customers, the inmates are nothing but disposable sacks of flesh that serve as a form of entertainment. Not only for them, but for the millions who tune in to watch Slayers online each week. However, to Kabel, Simon’s skill might be the key he needs to put a stop to Slayers and eliminate Castle.

Now if the core premise of inmates being forced to run a gauntlet of death and destruction in exchange for huge ratings sounds at all familiar to you, that’s because its been done before. You may recall a little film from 1987 called The Running Man which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Rather than sit around twiddling your thumbs while you wait for Lionsgate to release Gamer into theaters later this year on September 4th, perhaps you can ponder some of the following questions:

Pending Gamer warrants a sequel, I’ll bet dollars for donuts that they use a videogame-related term(s) in the film’s title. I can see the possibilities now: Slayers: Time Extended. Or Gamer: Powered-Up.

[FirstShowing.net]
[Gamer - official site]

I have lots of mixed feelings about this. I mean, it’s a Jerry Bruckheimer movie – you know, the same guy who brought us Pirates of the Caribbean. But then, it’s Michael Bay. The same guy who brought us Pearl Harbor. And a Michael Bay movie is like a dumb blond – sure it’s pretty to look at, but not much depth to it. Ah, and look – it’s going to be a Disney Adaptation, too. Well, if it’s anything like Pirates of the Caribbean, I’m pretty sure it won’t be disappointing… Well, I guess two out of three isn’t that bad. At least it’s Uwe Boll isn’t directing it. Oh, look at cast rumors:

Rumors of The Prince’s casting have already exploded across the internet. Names have ranged from John Abraham, Brendan Fraser and Barry Watson, to David Zandi and Josh Somerhalder. Some people have even thrown Howard Stern’s American Idol Loser turned winner Sanjaya Malakar into the mix. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I’m all for them ruining Idol (who isn’t) but not another video game movie.

… If Sanjaya is even casted as an extra in this movie, there will be hell to pay. I haven’t been paying attention to American Idol, but I don’t want Prince of Persia to turn into another From Justin to Kelly.

Here’s some art for you.

[FirstShowing]

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