Jonathan Crocker

Hurtling at you like some surreal techno-nightmare, Gamer is… what, exactly? No easy way to describe this frenetic cyber-thriller from the makers of Crank 2, which imagines an amoral near-future where reclusive citizens control brain-implanted fellow humans like real-life videogame avatars. Sounds crazy? You can’t even guess. This startling, grimy mess of grotesque imagery, fetish erotica and ultraviolence only occasionally makes sense but never lets up. Proving himself an action juggernaut to match Jason Statham, Gerard Butler is the supersoldier forced to blast his way through a lethal reality-TV shoot-‘em-up, puppeteered by a teenage whiz, watched by millions of fans. As he busts out of game-world to rescue his sex-slave wife and stolen child from evil mastermind Michael C Hall, Gamer’s frantic hand-held camerawork and strobing edits pummel your brain relentlessly. Did we mention there’s a song’n’dance number? Original, bizarre and stylised to hell and back.

RATING: ★★★★★

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