FilmSkool — a free film school
Gamer
Mind-control technology has taken society by a storm, a multiplayer on-line game called "Slayers" allows players to control human prisoners in mass-scale. Simon controls Kable, the online champion of the game. Kable's ultimate challenge becomes regaining his identity and independence by defeating the game's mastermind.
2009 · Directed by Mark Neveldine · 95 min · Action · Thriller · Science Fiction · Screenplay in the scene database · 12 frames
Tagline
In the near future, you don't live to play... you'll play to live.
Plot
In 2034, computer programmer Ken Castle invents self-replicating nanites that replace brain tissue and allow humans to control other humans' actions and see through their eyes. The first application of Castle's "Nanex" technology is a virtual community life simulation game, Society, which allows gamers to manipulate live actors as their avatars. Society becomes a worldwide sensation, making Castle the richest man in the world. He then creates Slayers, a third-person shooter where the "characters" are death-row prisoners using real weapons in specially designated areas. Unlike Society actors, Slayers participants are not paid; instead, they volunteer, and any Slayer who survives 30 matches will earn their freedom. John "Kable" Tillman is everyone's favorite, having survived a record 27 matches, and is controlled by 17-year-old gamer Simon Silverton.
An activist organization called the "Humanz" hacks a talk-show interview with Castle and claims that his technology will one day be used to control people against their will. The Humanz also disrupts Society play, but Castle sees both these actions as trivial. However, Castle feels threatened by Kable's winning streak and introduces a new inmate into Slayers, Hackman, specifically to kill Kable. Unknown to anyone else, Hackman will not be controlled by a player, thus not be handicapped by the "ping" that causes a small but dangerous delay between the player's command and the Slayer's action.
Kable's estranged wife, Angie, works as a Society character, but in spite of her earnings, she is refused custody of their daughter, Delia, who has been placed with a wealthy foster family.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
- Cinematography: Ekkehart Pollack
- Edited by: Peter Amundson, Fernando Villena, Doobie White
- Music: Geoff Zanelli, Robb Williamson
- Production design: Jerry Fleming
- Produced by: Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Skip Williamson, Richard S. Wright
Cast
- Gerard Butler as Kable
- Amber Valletta as Angie
- Michael C. Hall as Ken Castle
- Kyra Sedgwick as Gina Parker Smith
- Logan Lerman as Simon
- Alison Lohman as Trace
- Terry Crews as Hackman
- Ramsey Moore as Gorge
- Ludacris as Humanz Brother
- Johnny Whitworth as Scotch
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Lakeshore Entertainment, Taurus Film, Vincent Pictures, Lionsgate
- Budget: $50,000,000
- Box office: $40,800,000
- Themes: mind control, prisoner, video game, dystopia, gun battle, wrongful imprisonment, wrongful conviction, online gaming, 2030s, death game
Own the film
FilmSkool earns a small commission from qualifying Amazon purchases, at no cost to you.
More by Mark Neveldine
On this film
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.