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Gamer (2009)
31 Plays2 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris try not to get fragged and discuss 2009's Gamer, which came out 15 years ago this week.
Starring Gerard Butler as Kable, he's a death row inmate who is the star of the "video game" Slayers, created by tech billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). Kable is controlled by Simon (Logan Lerman) and fights in real-life death matches against other inmates. If Kable survives 30 matches, he will be released from prison. Meanwhile, his wife (Amber Valletta) works in Castle's other game, Society, which is basically Second Life, but the players control actual people. The guys discuss if the avatars in Society have actual shifts or have to work until their player logs out, the nightmare UI of the year 2034, Michael C. Hall's dance number, the random actor appearances, and more.
You can rent Gamer on platforms like Amazon, Google, or Apple TV. Next week, we're talking about the final chapter of Cannon's "Ninja Trilogy," Ninja III: The Domination, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to [email protected]. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
Please subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. You can also find the podcast on YouTube.
Check us out on Twitter (@evaction), Facebook (www.facebook.com/everything.action), and Instagram (@everything.action).
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the podcast week of September 2nd, 2024. I'm your host, Zach. I'm your co-host, Chris.
Celebrating 'Gamer's 15th Anniversary
00:00:27
Speaker
Yeah, and this week we're trying not to get fragged as we talk about ah the 2009 movie, Gamer.
00:00:33
Speaker
which is celebrating its 15th anniversary, came out ah this week ah back in 2009. And i believe i the third movie from the duo of Neville Dean Taylor, even though it was filmed, I think it was their second movie they made, but it came out after Craig 2. They filmed this before cra too but came up ah Craig Craig 2 came out in April of 2009, and then this came out in September 2009. 2009 was a big year for Neville Dean Taylor.
Director's Unique Style
00:01:02
Speaker
And then I think the last move they made together was Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance like two years later. And then after that, they said, that's enough from us. Yeah, to we can't we can't keep this level of like cocaine fueled madness going. Because, yeah, gamer gamer is like a like monster laced with cocaine fueled nightmare. It's it's like um They basically said it's like derivative of so many other things, but the pieces are combined in weird amounts.
Plot Critiques and Confusions
00:01:36
Speaker
So it's just like so lumpy of a plot movie.
00:01:43
Speaker
um I'm gonna say this, yeah it's not a smooth watch. There's so many jarring things that just happen. The opening is like one of the worst edited things I've ever seen in my life. it it's so It's so like ADD, every like two seconds it's something it's shifting like the edit or just cutting away from it and you can't tell what the hell is happening.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, and I get it. It wants to be as if you just like entered this world and it's confusing. I mean, if that's the intent, good job. But there's still a little bit of um structure and like I didn't know. Like, OK, you want to analyze it? All we know is Gerard Butler. That's the hero because you've seen the poster. That's him. And then he's killing things and moving. And you don't know if who he should be shooting at, who he isn't supposed to be shooting at.
00:02:33
Speaker
And then there's an explosion and then he kind of wanders off and then it just cuts to like, try and in a truck. But there's like a thing the thing the like in the screens highlighting, it's like an object. A safe point, yeah. But you have but you have if you don't know anything about games or I guess like objective markers, you just don't
Negative Portrayal of Gamers
00:02:55
Speaker
know what's going on. like you you need It and needed to not start from that perspective, especially when the marketing for this movie was, like, it was geared towards gamers, but then it wanted to do nothing with gamers. It wanted to actually- Oh, this movie be this movie hates gamers so much. Yeah. Like- This movie is supposed to be for gamers, but then it's like, it turns around and says, fuck you for being, like, a gamer. Yeah. I feel like- I feel like Neville E. Taylor are kind of like the, like, the, like, 80s jocks who hate nerds.
00:03:25
Speaker
I feel like they were nerdy, but they don't like the next generation. But i but tell yeah, it's because I feel like they would play they would like play games, no games. But then they act like they just like they hate they all the all the gamers in this in this world are like just despicable, disgusting people. Yeah, there's no even footing where, OK, I get like the Slayer thing is a really barbaric concept, but I guess that's the point.
Similar Movies Discussed
00:03:53
Speaker
It's supposed to be that only the most elite and kind of psychotic people take pleasure in this. But gamers aren't doing that in real life. It's not like, OK, well, they might be really good at this FPS game, but at the end of the day, it's just numbers. It's not the same as what's going on.
00:04:15
Speaker
The weirdest thing is that they basically said that the movie The Condemned is the same plot as Gamer, but done better? Well, I mean, it all goes, it goes back to, like, you know, Battle Royale, although this- No, no, it goes back down to, like, The Running Man. Yeah. And this also, I mean, this came with the year after, like, Paul W.S. Anderson's, like, Death Race, which just feels, like, very, like, stylistically similar to, and, like,
00:04:41
Speaker
with like, and then like that had like the you Mario Kart style, like power ups and stuff. yeah so Wait, I'm fine. Cause that's supposed to be, you're, you're entertained by blood sports, but yeah then it's not the same when like it's about gamers doing this. And I feel that people who have no control, apparently no control over their bodies that are like being like put into like these blood sports. Uh,
00:05:05
Speaker
Okay, so although it's a weird. it's it's very It's very murky. It's murky. um do Do you want to explain a little bit about the plot before we get into the weird, like, body control puppeteering thing?
Plot and Characters Overview
00:05:18
Speaker
Well, so yeah, so it's it's 2034. And you have Michael C. Hall, who is devouring scenery as ah Ken Castle, who's like,
00:05:29
Speaker
this tech tech billionaire who is figuring a way to inject nanobots into your brain. And then the nanobots let you control, like they receive input. So then he's created two kind of like, he's created two games that are like, you're controlling actual live people. So there's society, which is basically like live second life. And then there's slayers, which is like a death match, like Call of Duty style, like shooter game.
00:05:57
Speaker
And then, the yeah, Dr. Butler is in, and sla Slayers is all, like, deaththroat inmates who have volunteered to be in Slayers, and and if they survive 30 games, they get to, like, they get freedom, and then, sort of, Dr. Butler is, like, is, like, I think, when we start, he's, like, he's, like, 27 games away from, or, like, three games away from escape, because he's won 27. But it's weird, because, like, he technically, he hasn't won the games. It's his player, Simon, has won the games.
00:06:26
Speaker
OK, so that that's the weird thing, too. So the movie hints that basically at times the plot, there's a lag. And then if. If there's a lag, it's up to Gerard Butler to like the side. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, he's the one deciding. But it's always like ah a few second delays between some events. So when that happens, he takes over. Yeah.
00:06:52
Speaker
he That's why they're so good, I guess, because they've learned to overcome, like, together, he gets what he's supposed to do. Like, he is embracing, like, he's also skilled enough to be... Yeah, he was he was like a marine or something. and the Soldier. Soldier, which, like, I would think, like, if this is like a normal, if this is just like ah like a blood sport, or like, a sort of like, they throw in them in an arena, and then, like, he's got, like, all this, like, tactical skills, that makes sense, but then he's being controlled oh by this, like, 17-year-old douchebag.
00:07:24
Speaker
So the 17 year old douchebag has somewhat technical thinking, like to ah do this? Or cause like the games aren't- He's got like, he's got the reflexes, I guess, or something that like, that makes him like an ah awesome gamer.
00:07:39
Speaker
But in this world of controlling avatars, it's it's bizarre because it's... but Okay, I say this because they make it seem like when you step into, when you activate the gamer, your whole body's the controller. Yeah, it's it's when the Kinect come out, because I feel like it just came out before Kinect, and this like, proceed, this is like, like, predicting Kinect happening. It came out, this came out before Kinect.
00:08:03
Speaker
OK, yeah, because that's basically what it is, is like Logan Lerman, like Simon, who's like the ah player controlling Dry Butler, is in like this like bubbles dome. And then he's like, no, that's his room. it's's It's his room. Yeah. But that that's like his computers, like this like virtual dome. And then in the game, and like he is using his like he's his arms control like Dry Butler's arms. And he'd like where he looks like Dry Butler looks so. Well, no, he.
00:08:31
Speaker
Or is he just a camera? Yes, it's a third person camera. So you can't even look through the gun. Yeah. There's a whole bunch of like mechanics that don't make sense. Like it's sort of like Fortnite, but no first person like you. So you've like a fixed camera position over the shoulder. Yeah, it's a it's like a third. It's a third person action game to like Simon's perspective. So it's like years, it's like Gears of War more than like Call of Duty.
00:09:03
Speaker
But yeah, but yeah then but it's weird because in society, like when you when you come over to that game, like that's like total like you like the people people controlling those people have like absolute control
Game Mechanics Critique
00:09:13
Speaker
over them. like but but Those people can't even talk. like When Jorai Bawler is being controlled, he gets to like talk and be like, make me turn around, maybe turn around. like like yeah and then like at one point they get like a mod, let's talk to each other. But then everyone's like a legal mod. So yeah I'm in something that um they don't utilize, but yeah guess they never met. Yeah. Oh, I mean, a lot of the the slayers don't last that long. So that kind of makes sense. We never get to see um like how like if there's like a character select screen or how like how Simon chose cable to be his like avatar.
00:09:51
Speaker
I'm thinking they did it because, um, like he had money. He probably bought the DLC to have him. Yeah. Well, he he apparently he gets off because he's constantly offers to like buy cable, like those like, those was like this like slutty British twins offer to go pay him like a hundred million dollars, whatever, like buy cable. We said it's really weird about those slutty British twins. Yeah. Well, two things. One.
00:10:16
Speaker
there their handle online is like, come dump this. Every screen name in this movie is fucking insane. Okay. Then those are professional Disney voice actors for like the Disney TV shows.
00:10:35
Speaker
What? Yeah. What a wild like, Hey, how'd you start an industry? Well, We were like a UK on UK shows when we were like kids and then somehow ended on gamer. Yeah. And then two years later, we fired our agent and then we got a new one.
00:10:56
Speaker
That now they're like voices, voice actors and actors on like Disney programs. That whole set up is like is like a nightmare. like like site like that dome where it's just like people people just get you and then it's like and there's no ad blocker like cut like just endless got like an endless tabs of like porn going on in the background he's got like his like game like store and then he's out yeah then like it's like just and like a symbol for the internet I guess there's such a giant globe say I guess that means you're connected to the internet that's like but that's like like
00:11:30
Speaker
Black Mirror, like what was that? um Like it was like the second or third episode, like the 20 million merits, whatever. It's like you're like, it's like paid like, you have to like pay your credits, like get rid of the ads. But that's, that's like, if you just let the ads go, it's like, Oh my God. And then it's like, Oh, you can earn it by like doing dumb activities and other things.
Dystopian Themes and Society Critique
00:11:55
Speaker
The worst part is that like your screens can watch other screens. Like,
00:12:00
Speaker
People who like show up as a windowed on your thing can also look across and see like adjacent or yes Yep, what? Like his like sister gets on and he like is like hey you want to fuck? It's like What is happening? Is this it's like it's it's it's like the worst person like the worst person read it like wrote this movie
00:12:28
Speaker
uh it well it is it i mean it does like i think he's like he's like he's like 17 this movie it does does feel like seventeen this feels like a a like horny 17 year old who was just like fed like tons of cocaine just like was like make a movie about games but like what if games were real make a movie Yeah, no, it, this is something where I can see like it was hilarious kind of back then, but now as you meet like younger gamers, they kind of have that attitude. They grew up on a generation of that where I could see that totally off, but still it's not a great representation. Well, just, just the fact there's like, no, you don't get a notification. If someone's calling you this, like all of a sudden you're like a voice chat with someone like a video chat with someone.
00:13:17
Speaker
And it's also, it's also, it's also insane. Like there's just like, like porn is every, like you're walking down the street in like wherever they are, like Los Angeles and like, there's not billboards anymore. It's just porn on the street. I know. It's just, they got to the point. It's like, is this an ad or is it just showing straight porn? Yeah. What a weird future. Cause then if free, if porn's free on the just TV and outside, yeah why are people paying for porn in that future?
00:13:46
Speaker
or or like going into like I guess that's why society is so popular because it's like now you're like you're controlling people and gets you get to do like whatever you want to them okay now here's the weird thing about the society thing we saw that in slayer you do like a Kinect thing and your high-end PC thing yeah but then high society it's just like you can just sit on your like chair and like wave your hand so you don't feel it you're just sort of
00:14:17
Speaker
just like, you know, yeah, there's no simulating it. for It's like, you know, you're not entering someone's conscious. You're sort of just like watching from your. Yeah, it's it's it's more it's more voyeuristic. Like it's weird because this movie came out the same year as ah surrogates like the Bruce Willis movie. Did you ever
Comparisons with 'Surrogates'
00:14:33
Speaker
see that movie, Chris? Yeah, I see that movie like that. So that one is like you're in, you know, you're not a robot shell and you feel you get all the sensations of the robot shell. So wait, wait, is it the woman in this one also in surrogates to No, that was like, uh, was it, uh, what's her name? Rada? Rada Mitchell or like, okay. They look very close. Yes. They look, they've looked very similar. Yes. But this is a running trend with like blonde, slender woman being in, like, trapped at like horrible, like, simulations, and apocalypse, dystopian. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, but it's, it's just like, it's just like your, I guess you're you're getting off on a mobile app.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah, and there's no controller. At one point, the disgusting, disgusting creepo that controls Drybutler's wife, he pulls up a location, and he clicks on it, and then she goes to that location. So it's just like, you just click, go to the rave, and then they go to the rave, and then whatever he says, she has to say. Yeah. To me, I'm like,
00:15:45
Speaker
The graphics aren't the best because he's still using like CRT TVs and he has like five different TVs with it going on. Yeah. It's not like a 3D.
00:15:58
Speaker
immersion cam like the other guy in slayer you know what i mean like it just seemed very it's just like a it's like a video feed it's like a like a live video feed from like society the thing is the society thing i think is like that went on at the beginning of the 2034 and then they did like nine months later they made slayer that's what yes society came up first and then then they made slayer afterwards so and then i'm just thinking the timeline of the whole movie because That means Dr. Butler was in Slayer before Slayer was a thing. And then he just been there for nine months. So I guess he's been fighting 23 or 20 something fights for nine months straight. Well, I mean, that's the if I get to that already, but that's like the like the reveal like it like toward the end. It's like that's just sort of like because he's like a prisoner and it's like, OK, well, he could earn. But I'm just thinking like the timeline because the movie
00:16:59
Speaker
takes place over the course of like, I'm gonna say like two days. Yeah. There's like, there's no context. Like, Oh, is there a game? Cause it's, it's not like the players is also not like quality where you just let you can get on whatever you want. And like, a very it it's it's ah it's a schedule like pay-per-view, like events that you have to like get beyond for. Cause that's why the 17 year olds are very popular because he can only play this game once in a while. Yeah. And then, you know, um,
00:17:30
Speaker
He's sort of like an e-sports player where he doesn't do anything. I don't think he's going to go to college because his whole future is basically this now. Well, it seems like like he he's you know they they mentioned you something. Keith David, FBI agent Keith David shows up. It's like when he gets arrested, he's like, we fro we froze your father's bank accounts. So like his his family like is like loaded. like He's just like a rich douchebag. Oh, OK.
00:17:54
Speaker
I'm not worried about him because his his development pretty much never goes anywhere. He doesn't learn anything. He doesn't become friends with draw butler.
Character Development Issues
00:18:02
Speaker
They never meet. Well, he does he does help, which it's so weird that like two of like the worst characters are like the saviors of the movie. It's like Simon and then like Keira Cedric, who's just like the like fame hungry reporter or the like the two people that like like expose the truth, and like save society. Yeah, but she's a tabloid.
00:18:24
Speaker
reporter she's a classic archetype yeah but weird weird sense of what's going on because it's not like oh she's quirky like on her daytime show it's like at night she goes undercover and it's not undercover clothes it's just like i put sunglasses on then she puts on a banana yellow ring i guess she's undercover for like infiltrate society because everyone in society wears like the most insane outfits
00:18:50
Speaker
But then everyone's society kind of dresses her in level and then she's wearing modest clothes for society players. How does she get in there too? Because obviously society is in some sort of compound. I think you just wander it in. You just wander it. Yeah, it's just like an open area.
00:19:11
Speaker
And the society tells you when you're like, still in it or not, but I think it's like a grid thing. Yeah, they do mention something like that. Yeah, when like, when like, Drybar's like, wife leaves like, which is end of her shift, like she like, goes into like, like leaves and the ship deactivates, and she's like, back to normal. But she's like, clock in to like, society.
00:19:35
Speaker
ah There's a lot of like other things. this There's interesting concepts I want i wish would've been fun to explore. But of course, being like gaming nerds ourselves, we we just kind of I get hung up on the fact that the control schemes don't make sense.
00:19:48
Speaker
and no and what there's there's no there's yeah There's no explanation of... like What the objective of slayers is like, there's is there teams? Is there like a score limit? Is it, is like, is it, you know, Fortnite where you kill everyone and then you win? Like, well it kind of seems like you just had to get to like the save point. And then if you get to the save point, then you win it. But then it's like, think yeah, but then there's also like time limits. If, if like the game's over, cause I guess every, every player, even though cable's the most popular.
00:20:19
Speaker
There's still, if everyone's dead, then there's no, no more games for the next round. So they can't have everyone die in like one game. Yeah. That's going to make sense. It's like, just be like, Oh, it's one game a year. Like unless it's one game a year, but this seems like what's a month or what's a week or something. Yeah. Yeah. And then it seems like, like, it seems like there's like, like, there's like teams because there's like dry butlers is like, there's people who are killing your killer, dry butler, like, uh,
00:20:46
Speaker
like Zoe Bell shows up for like five minutes in this movie and then gets a little random. That was just like a plot point where it's just going to hang around longer, but but the that movie real quick. But then there's like, yeah there's like a bunch of like opposing players that are trying to kill cable. But then they mentioned you like everyone's trying to kill cable or something to be, to try to be popular. And then, and then Michael C Hall drops, uh, Terry Cruz in to try to kill him.
00:21:11
Speaker
And Terry Crews has this interesting point where supposedly he doesn't have like, he's like, he's a psycho. He's just a psycho who likes to kill people. that Like, so he has no, but no player. He's just like dropped into like this game and then it's like kill, kill Gerard Butler. But he somehow can't like, yeah but for someone without a control, he doesn't do much.
00:21:33
Speaker
I feel like the character cruz is like constantly getting killed, but then he comes back somehow. He's constantly getting shot or blown up, and then this like next thing he's there again. this ah he He gets like hit from like a car yeah from a car and then... He he slams the boy he slams into like a concrete barrier and off a truck, and then it's like, oh, he's dead. But then he comes back, and a couple of scenes later he's just like perfectly fine trying to kill Jordan Butler again.
00:22:02
Speaker
And it was, it was super weird seeing Terry Crews as like this, like psychopath, like his merge psychopath that you're like, you know, how many nine seasons of Brooklyn nine and like the host America's that Taylor is just like America's like muscle about Teddy bear now.
Notable Performances and Chaos
00:22:16
Speaker
But not back then. He was a big, tough guy that is off naked and covered in blood in one scene.
00:22:24
Speaker
It's like they're in the locker room. He's just like hey, I just killed a guy. This this is blood man let See it's like we what where is the body? What's going on? I feel like a lot of the like the actors this movie just got like no direction or like like never need care We're just like do whatever you want say whatever you want. It's fine. It feels natural Terry. and He's like cool and it's naked It's like what and then and like like I was just like, like, John Leguizamo is just like, I feel like he had no dialogue, like he had no written dialogue, just made up with him, just coming up with like nonsense. I thought he was good. I felt like he was in the movie longer. And then he's only in it for like, I don't know, three scenes.
00:23:05
Speaker
He's like Drybutler's friend, quote-unquote, and then he gets put into one, I think it's like the third game we see, where he's he's like ah he's a genericon, which is put random people, I guess inmates who aren't good enough to be slayers, or they just make them, like they give them an NPC, pre-programmed job.
00:23:27
Speaker
And they just tell them to just stand there and do minute stuff. But OK, is everyone doing that like in jail? I think so. But they're not like, I guess they're not like the like ah like you know muscle-bowed typical like slayer.
00:23:47
Speaker
like ah But its it's like it seems like anyone could be a slayer. if If someone's controlling a slayer, then anyone could be a slayer. like
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah. What's the point? Why? why Unless it's like athletes, like it seems like everyone who's a slayer has to be at least an athlete or like a soldier, like some, some, has to know how to use a gun. Yeah. And then your body has to handle all that endurance. But yeah, but then they just, but they, they, they, they apparently, they just also send these other people in to just be like, to like, for like flavor in the environment, just like wander around and They have like no, like it's like, I think they mentioned they have no control. Like there's like pre-crowding. They just have to, no control over what they're doing. They're just trying to like, just do it. They're placing the environment. They have to survive. And they just find one game. They're getting it for freedom, but then none of them do. Oh.
00:24:39
Speaker
So like they said like John la was I was just like sweeping a floor in the middle. It's like gigantic battle or like Lloyd Kaufman shows up. He's like wanders, like walks into a gate. He's probably has better odds doing that. It's like, I don't see anything going wrong with that one. But okay. So then there's this weird part where there's just helicopters shooting rockets. Yeah. Who's yeah. Who is, is that just like, ah you know, Michael C. Hall's just like his comp, like his security guys just like doing that. And it's like,
00:25:06
Speaker
Just kill some random like slayers to make it more interesting. I don't know. Just if someone mentioned it, because I was looking at them like, o who's that player? Did they find that? Could you probably find a helicopter and like fly around and start blowing up people up with a rocket launcher if you if you if they could? I feel like that breaks the whole balance of the game. OK, that's the secret weapon in the game. OK, if you play like Battlefield,
00:25:35
Speaker
any of those games. Yeah. Yeah. If you can get to it, usually you have one on your base. Uh, it still makes you vulnerable because it's balancing. But if the game is, okay, no, this team has a helicopter, you don't. What?
00:25:52
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like they don't want them to use vehicles because dry bar has to come up with that insanely elaborate scheme of drinking vodka, like pounding a bottle of vodka and then like being drunk and then like throwing up into a gas tank of a truck and then that's so that power fuels the truck so the the theory is is that in the future cars can run on ethanol alcohol that's what's sad yeah it said yeah said so but ah cars can't just do that like you can't just put like it's like gas is 10 percent ethanol and yeah what they put in was like
00:26:30
Speaker
I don't know what vodka brand they use because they can also cut it and not bring 100% ethanol. but like Essentially, he could have just got drunk on... like moon shine?
00:26:44
Speaker
moonshine Or just, hey, just smuggle it in. like i man like don't notice it's in like a like in her pocket of his flak jacket. Like no one would notice it. think can We just like quickly just put in his pocket. Besides, yeah, building it for the camera to look at. Yeah. But though he yeah, just he vomits it up and he also like pisses in the test, which I feel like that would like not work at all. Like because that's that that's not even like let's just like water. That's like ethanol. ah Maybe it is. Maybe he didn't eat anything. So just keying it. That's why he's hilariously hammered. But
00:27:19
Speaker
Yeah, you could be also hilarious the hammer because he drank pretty much like a liter of alcohol. Yeah, but that's how he escapes like from like, what's supposed to be this final game and then like, ah all the like propaganda is like, Oh, he got killed. RIP cable. go back I want to go back where Logan whatever his name is Logan. Yeah. Yeah. He made the deal to with, with ludicrous, ludicrous, the head of the resistance, the, the resistance called humans. Yep. With a C cause it's extreme.
00:27:56
Speaker
Who are like, yeah, they're like hacking into a news broadcast and like, like basically they're trying to like warn people that Michael C. Hall wants to like control everyone's minds with the these nanobots, which is seriously true.
00:28:09
Speaker
society but it's not even that um that plan makes sense but the plan before that makes it seem like hey this is a shit show this is killing people people like don't give a shit like there there seems to be no humane rights for this show
00:28:32
Speaker
Like, it made it seem like, oh, their first mission is to just stop the show because
Resistance Movement and Villain's Plan
00:28:35
Speaker
it's inhumane. But then it's also like, hey, dum-dums, this this is also what is going to turn on you, and you're going to be in the show. Yeah, because because they're trying to like you're trying to like, you know, they're humans. They're trying to bring back people's humanity because they're like robots right now. If they're in society or they're in slayers, they're basically robots.
00:28:56
Speaker
I mean, you can say the thing about smartphones that makes people into like zombies. Except, you know, my phone can somehow control a human to do crazy shit like this. Bad phone.
00:29:10
Speaker
I know. And also, there's no like competitor in this society. It just seems like, okay, well, that guy's got the control puppet of human, and there should have been some yeah like Chinese companies. Michael C Hall but i'll see how all seems like he has like unlimited power. like He just like the government like he has paid the government, and then the government's just like, yeah, you can do whatever the hell you want. He bailed out like the federal... like ah I think what they said, they say you like bail out the federal prison system. It was a bit of a bankrupt. And then like, like he's like, oh, he's like the savior of the government. So and they don't care what he does now. Okay. I kind of forgot that part. The beginning intro after the, like the, the plot exposition dump where it should have been so much where it should have been like, yeah, like, like setting up the world and it says this is like Michael C. Hall, it's like sound bites of him. Just like probably improvising random of nonsense.
00:29:59
Speaker
It's him practicing lines between like Dexter takes. I feel like this is like, you know, this is like peak Dexter time. This is like season four. We're like, it like, apparently, you know, I think it's like one of the like most well regarded seasons of that show with like.
00:30:13
Speaker
yeahth gallad like the trinity killer and all that stuff so like yeah that's about right i feel like i feel like he had like he he showed up for like a week or something like he's in the beginning of the movie he's at the end of the movie that's it like he doesn't really show up anytime in the middle except for like what he does it's him like sitting down and his like his version of the computer room yeah and then i feel like he ive yeah he shot all the stuff and like i feel like in like a week and just like well i gotta go i gotta go back to texter i think he also did this after while battling cancer or something like that. It was that weird few years where he was he did like the first two seasons of Dexter, then he had to get chemo for a year, and then he came back. So I think this is around that same time. i mean he's Again, not not a problem, but for like a major tech villain, I didn't know what they're going for. Because he's not quite a fighter, and he's not quite a like nerd behind the computer screen. he sort He's a spokesman for that. he's like, yeah, he's Southern. He has a crazy Southern accent. Um, and then there was interviews where he's on like some show before he gets like, uh, cure Cedric show. Like he's just like, is a baseball cap on and like, he just looks like, he looks like a trucker and he's just like, you know, he's like yelling nonsense. And then when you get to his house at the end, it's like, he has a basketball court and like a space room, but then he also like,
00:31:42
Speaker
turnter themselves is like bruce lee at the end for the final fight ah hit it that was a part of his cool like future clothes ah just yeah happen to have the bruce lee law
00:31:55
Speaker
but he's not a fighter like doesn't know how to fight exactly he knows it eat up someone who can't defend someone someone that he's got someone that he's controlling to fight him but Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt- Turt Well, we'll get into that part because I got a lot to say about like, yeah, um, downfall at the end. But yeah, let's go. So, so go back to like, yeah, so the driver, Butler, like, yeah, he drinks a bunch of vodka, he escapes, it fills up a truck, he escapes, then he joins like the humans. And then.
00:32:30
Speaker
They reveal that they know where his wife is and he breaks into society.
Gameplay Dynamics
00:32:33
Speaker
And we get a big like society action sequence where he's like killing it. Like everyone cites me like gunned down, but he's like my dry boat and then filing the security guys. And Terry Cruz. Are we not going to mention there's a guy named rape? Yeah. my Like an actual by actor. like but yeah my love it's a bigly know This, this movie is just like every like 10 minutes. There's like some random person just like, why is this person in this movie?
00:33:00
Speaker
i also didn't realize this movie like a fifth of the actors that like have more screen time than you think are all from monk i mean not monk psych yes the news anchors are like the psych people the main stars from psych yep yeah and then also like the one of the tech nerds on michael c hall's team is also in psych yep so i'm sure i'm sure but i'm sure a bunch of people have like guest starred on psych so did Do they all like meet at a party? I just said, you want to be in my movie? Or like, Devil in Terror, we're just like, we're fucking huge fans of Psych. Because it's all psych people you can. I guess so. But yeah, it's like, it's like, Keith Davis shows up for like literally one scene, or like two scenes. And then, like, yeah, that Milo Ventibigula is like Rick Wright for one scene, and then
00:33:59
Speaker
Yeah, Zoey Bell was in there for five minutes and... Sam Whitwer, aka Darth Maul, and tons of Star Wars characters, like Star Killer in the Force Unleashed games, he shows up from one scene as the social worker. It's bizarre because this is right before he did all the Star Wars things, so he was just starting out his career here.
00:34:26
Speaker
But yeah, it's just like every 10 minutes or so you're just like, wait, this person's a movie? Or it's like a crazy cameo? I guess, which I feel like you get that even more when the Crank movies were just like absolutely insane people show up at Crank 2. Or at Crank where it's like, why is this person in this movie? Well, that movie is just like a homage to LA. Yeah. That's how crazy LA is.
00:34:53
Speaker
But yeah, this movie even wore bazaar just because the context of like, what's going on? It's like, Oh, Hey, he's not like a serious actor from like, this is us. And it's like, Oh, his name is Rick rape. And just give it it just like going for it. Like, Oh yeah. Yeah. Sticky his head. Sticky his head down his tight rubber pants and just like messing around on there. Like, but then we know that some avatar guy, that's a guy sitting on the guy could the guy trolling him. Yeah.
00:35:23
Speaker
Yep. Who's that guy?
00:35:28
Speaker
The movie does make a point that since these are all avatars, like they are responsible for like, not caring for human life. Yeah, the people controlling people in society just don't get that they they have no concept like these are actual people. There's like Oh, this is my avatar. I'm gonna do whatever I want with it. I'm gonna go, uh, you know, punch you on the face or have sex with people or like new drugs or that, that scene that is just trying to be every like open world concept game or it's like the priest punches a guy in the face and runs like, and then like the woman on the skateboard, like it's not a person like woman on a skateboard. And then she starts laughing because but her arms broken. like ye So weird. We're not,
00:36:12
Speaker
It's like, oh, shit, like, this is a bizarre game. But what's the objective besides live out this fantasy? It's like your fantasy is to hurt your avatar. No, I think I mean, society is just it's like, I think it's literally just second life, or just like, yeah, you you're in this, you're in this, like, whatever, however big the compound is, or the city or society is that you just like, do whatever you want.
00:36:39
Speaker
And we yeah we get like the the briefest glimpse of like the the actual like UI where he's like trying to pick the outfit for. DryButter's wife to start the game before like the big action sequence, but that's the only like glimpse of like what the like actual like player sees for signing. I do like that, that in order to film all those outfits and like little like animations that happen. He actually had to film every single one. Yeah. And then stand there, get filmed. And then I don't think they play games so they don't quite understand like how the menu is supposed to be. So like, all right, you're going to be like picked. So if you do this dumb thing and then you wear this outfit and it's like,
00:37:15
Speaker
very like low cut and whatever. I really, I really want, I want to see the, like the scene where she gets to work and she's like, there's just like a ah board, like backstage crew person. Just like, Hey, here's the outfit your player picked today. Put it on. Yeah. Like what's that economy? Like that doesn't just show up at her door. She has to go somewhere and it's like, they pick this. she has to go she She has to go to society, like punch in, probably go to like a locker room, put like whatever outfit that the player picked for her to wear.
00:37:43
Speaker
And then she like walk walks out into the anxiety that she's like controlled by the player after that. But then it's like, but how long does this shift? Is she she like is she there until like the gu like the player is like, I'm bored, i'm like I'm logging off now, and then she's done? Or is there like actually like a shift?
00:37:58
Speaker
Okay. So the player also controls the season. I think there's more questions about society than there is gamer part, which we're getting kind of like on. One question is how does hunger and food work in that game? Like yeah you have this avatar that you sit at home and eat and like, you know, you're comfortable, but you have this player that you're controlling that is eventually going to pass out from drugs or dancing or something you're doing for hours on end without realizing.
00:38:27
Speaker
Yeah, because there's, yeah, there's, cause there's no concept of, is there like a, you know, is there a time limit that you can like control your person and then they have to know it's like, that's, that's in their shift. Or is it just like, you know, it's like, do you feel what they feel? So like, if they feel hungry, you feel hungry. But there's not like a, it's not like you're, they don't have like a suit or like gloves or like any sort of like sensory stuff. So it's, it's, it feels like you're just like, you're just seeing and then you see through their eyes and then you like talk and then they talk and then you,
00:38:56
Speaker
get to pick whatever actions they do.
Nanobot Technology and Villain's Plan
00:38:58
Speaker
Okay, they they did a thing where it's like the nanobots replicate their original bodies. They place all the tissue in your brain with nanobots. And the nanobots can receive orders from transmissions. Yeah. Yeah. So players do that for everything. And then we turn out later that there's like a bigger receive like a sender, which is Michael C. Hall. Yeah. But that means at any point he can hijack anyone's will, I guess. Well, that's his entire villainous scheme, is that he wants to infect everyone in the world or a majority of people with nanobots, possibly without them even realizing it, just spreading dust like a virus and turning everyone into zombies that he controls.
00:39:49
Speaker
So yeah like they'll like buy his products and like vote the way he wants them to vote, and like go like do things he wants them to do. And also, apparently, like like ah participate in elaborate dance numbers. Oh, man. The movie has like a big lull, but it picks you right back at the end for that dance number. Yeah. that is i mean that is just like that that's like I think it's the one thing people remember from this movie, is like, Michael C. Hall just like dancing with like a bunch of like zombie skin. Yeah. I didn't mind that. I kind of want more of that. Yeah. Like that, that style weirdness definitely like that needed like more of that.
00:40:30
Speaker
Because after the, after the, it's the high society part, which I remember more of the rave club scene where it's just like insanity happened. It's like every eighties club shootout scene, like up to the max, like from Robocop, but yeah. It's like there's blood being spewed on people. There's like women in pendulum balls. but Yeah. Like those, like, it was like, uh, those office, like the office desk balls. It's like women that are in them and then like balls.
00:41:00
Speaker
there's and there's like There's like black lights like people are getting shot, but it's like the black light the blood is like like young white so that we're just like can you spray with it but no but but they're like they're society zombies they don't care just like they just keep dancing or making out or doing whatever they're doing blood all over them which is weird because i'm like is that they don't feel do the player doesn't feel the pain then player doesn't know feel like they just they're watching a screen being mushed from another person and it's like yeah what what what happens if you're yeah if you're if you're like society character dies like he just offline i guess yeah you're offline you pick or you pick a new one
00:41:34
Speaker
You definitely need to be like, is this subscription service? Like do you pay like a certain like a monthly fee to like be a society or like is you just buy like a one-time copy of it or? I have no idea. The movie doesn't explain and I try to figure out how much it costs because if that fat dude can afford like a high society membership, I'm like, what how much is this? Let's just say he absolutely is using government money to get frozen waffles and play high society.
00:42:03
Speaker
that's his life well because second life second life freer was it is it like it was it's free i think but if you want like credits and stuff you have to use their credits and unless you take like a job i think in the game yeah um you can because then you can also make like custom things or others there's a minor task for other people there's a different there's different like membership levels there's like a six dollar month $66 a year, $12 a month premium.
Economic Speculations and Subplots
00:42:34
Speaker
Yeah, damn. Because I think in Second Life you have to get a job or something to pay rent or buy property in Second Life.
00:42:45
Speaker
Oh, so also like something something that doesn't make sense about slayers too is like, apparently it seems like it's like a pay-per-view kind of like event, but then you're just like broadcasting out to like giant, like it's like, you know, Shibuya like crossing in Japan, like on the pyramids and like, in like like it's like, you you paid when you could just go outside and watch this for maybe in half an hour. Yeah. So it's like, how, how is this don't seem like it lasts is that long, right? No, maybe it seems like it lasts is 10 minutes or so.
00:43:15
Speaker
Yeah, so how is how is Ken Castle like Michael see all like a billionaire? Like he's like he's like he's not we we don't we don't know if he's making money. how He's making money off either of these games. He's just like, I guess I guess because the government contracts. Here's the thing. We're assuming that all of the Slayer games are death matches with a gun, right? Yeah, maybe some matches are dumb stuff, dumb mini games that don't make any sense, but sort of does to the player. was like Oh, okay. Like,
00:43:45
Speaker
You know, Monday is like like like a tournament match of guns. And then Wednesday is a puzzle match. And like Thursday is like, you know, collect garbage. Or I wonder if people are paying for like, because we see Logan Lehrman like buying, like he buys like dry bottle or like the the scatter bullets. And it's like 800 credits or whatever. So is that like actual money? Is that like, yeah you know, 800 credits is some sort of like ah equivalent, like some sort of money value. That's how they're making money.
00:44:16
Speaker
they're making money through the avatar. I don't know. You know what I mean? Like the movie does not care about that. It's just sort of like, don't worry, just enjoy this story. But I'm like, wait, wait, like go back. Let's apply some actual gaming economics to this.
00:44:34
Speaker
You're going to speak. This is going to really date the podcast episode, but just like Concord, where it's like, how do you pay for all this development and stuff? It's like eight years. yeah The money pays for it's like, from who? The players. What if the players don't play? They have to play. It's a game. It's like, no, no. What?
00:44:59
Speaker
Like unless, unless slayers is like a billion dollar, like a month fee, like something crazy to pay for all this technology and satellite and broadcasting costs and all that. Like, you know what I mean? Like the NFL charges cable companies up in obscene amount to present on their networks and then charges ah the watcher at home, like an extra fee to like, have it be part of your cable package, right? Yeah. How the fuck does this Slayer network work?
00:45:28
Speaker
um i wish i wish they'd shown just like even like a couple other players they're playing just so we get a sense of like what is yeah yeah like who's controlling other like let's let's see who's controlling like you know zoe bell or something or like and it's like you get a little bit like oh there's like someone's like tea bagging someone but then it's like there's there's there's not there's not like a slayer it's like like spinning around a circle because the person doesn't know how to like to control the person or something i would have liked in a dumb way that Zoe Bell's player was actually like the kid's sister. Yeah. whatever your like like i was you like like Sissy Puss. yeah That was her screen name. That was a name she called herself. Yes. But I would have liked it where she's like, like getting good in the game. Oh my God. Yeah. Time. She was like the second best player in the world. That was like, like only a couple of matches behind.
00:46:27
Speaker
And it's like, okay, hey, you know, we really work well as a team. And like, you know, this game is fun for him now. It's like more than or, or you have Michael C Hall as like, like goes to the sister and like, Hey, you hate your brother, right? Like sabotage this game. Like owner smash this game, or whatever. Like I'll pay you like $10 million. Like that that's like an eighties plot, right? Like an eighties thing where, um,
00:46:51
Speaker
Like the friend turns at the last moment and then turns again when they realize, you know, it's not worth the money or something. And it's like, they team up. I feel like that would have been a nice plot line, but I feel like definitely Dean Taylor, which is like, nah, let's not even do that. Let's just go straight random, random, everything. Yep. The whole file sequence is just like, it's like every scene is like a totally different location and like insane thing happening where it's like dry butler. So.
00:47:21
Speaker
driver, they find out, they find out that, uh, cause like earlier they plot, like the Sam Witwer was like, Oh, a wealthy client adopt to your daughter. and She's fine. She's not gonna, she's not gonna need anything in the world. But then you find out, Oh, by the way, it's Michael C. Hall. He adopted your daughter as like, how's that? How's that like a hidden fact? How's that like a, Oh, we just had to look that up. Yeah. Well, I think we got to make sure like, so like the bigger deal is that,
00:47:50
Speaker
Gerard Butler and then one of his other like fellow soldiers were like, the they were the original like test subjects for, I think, was society, I can't remember, was society already a thing, and then this was the next like next level of the chips, or like the nanobots, or was this the original, original nanobots?
00:48:10
Speaker
i think i think it was like I think it was society was already, he wanted, like, we'll see how he already had society going, but then he wanted to find out like how much control he actually had over someone. And so they like had, or they and they, they said it was, it was going to be like a, like brain enhancement. they didn't They didn't tell them it was like a, like nano bot injection that controls your brain. And then Michael Z Hall made Gerard Butler kill his friend or fellow soldier. And that's why he got put in prison.
00:48:43
Speaker
Well, okay. They were like in a test facility. Yes. And then. Michael C. Hall was doing the like, can I force someone to do something they don't want to do as a test total control? Yep. But like, what a weird way to do the total control experiment. It's like, I'm going to use the guy who is the most skilled, use him to be my puppet, prove that it doesn't work, because then your brother goes to jail for being in that test facility.
00:49:15
Speaker
kill the guy. So it's like, oh, did he kill the guy because he wanted to? It's like, yeah, and you sure not because he's being a detective would be like, were you controlling him in this controlling person facility?
00:49:28
Speaker
But then also but it also put him in a video game where you like everyone knows he's not in control of his body. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. It's just like, what? and get And give him a chance to like but but like there's ah ah hope that he could like he'd escape or like win enough games that he has his freedom. If Michael C. Oliver's smart, he should have turned that guy into an NBC right away. like you know just so Just someone sweeping the grounds and a minefield. Yup.
00:49:56
Speaker
why make him the number one slayer you know like and then accidentally give him to a kid who also happens to be like the number one like slayer player yeah it's like how what are the odds man then oh my god do you want to get into the dumb dumb part where michael seall's character turns out he also put like nanobots in himself but referr and But reverse nanobots.
Resistance and Conclusion
00:50:27
Speaker
So he can control other nanobots, but like he doesn't know how to really control it. In terms of what happens, like, yes, he does. It's like his mind is the controller, but he doesn't know he didn't master his mind. He he. Whatever he thinks, if like he could send his thoughts out to anyone with the chips and they'll they'll do whatever he think he thinks. So that's why he like. He just makes all the people dance with him, or he makes the Dread Butler fight him, but he's like knowing what moves he's gonna do, so he's able to you know fight Dread Butler. He should've let Gerard Butler like pretty much dance with him. It should've been more of a yeah dance fight than an actual fight that doesn't look real, like because it seemed like he didn't have the control. like i guess And it also doesn't come into play where
00:51:23
Speaker
there was a lag. And then he doesn't, in that moment of lag for whatever reason, like, hey, you know, it only works in bursts of like 30 seconds. Something like that, right? Because that was a whole big plot beat was like, oh, you got to get rid of the lag. Like Terry Crews doesn't have lag. Like, and then there was a whole thing of like, kid, like Dread Brothers was like, kid, you got to give me out the hook so I could like have no lag and like get out of here. Yeah. So, and in the end, it's like there is no lag anymore.
00:51:52
Speaker
But because there's like a virus that was uploaded by the last members of humans, there's a like another lag, I guess. But then out of nowhere, the kid comes back and like tries to stab Michael C Hall. Well, that's that's so it's like, um, you find out during the dance sequence that also like that Michael C Hall tracked where humans was and killed every single person except for, uh,
00:52:19
Speaker
the one, like Alison Lohmann, the hacker girl, and and then she worked with Kira Sedgwick, and they ah somehow are able to hack like Michael C. Hall's house, I guess, and like are able to broadcast the feed of him like taunting Dry Butler and revealing his new one plot, but then also giving Logan Learn back control of Dry Butler, because the FBI colleague ended his like ah like Nanax whatever like I guess that's the internet now is Nanax they cut off his like Nanax connection but then the hack they hacked it and then gave him back controls and then like so then Simon was back in control dry bother that's why he was able like fight back okay but okay the the thing I have a question for is then you his so that means Simon's controls more powerful than Michael C Hall's control well they were they're fighting over it but then I think
00:53:19
Speaker
According to Wikipedia, this is not clear in the movie at all, but Wikipedia is saying that because DryBrawler says, think of this knife going to your stomach. Right. So then mine goes to say all. He thinks it. Because he thinks that. He says, imagine me stuffing this knife in your stomach, and then let's say all, unconsciously thinks of that. So then that lets DryBrawler stab him in the chest.
00:53:45
Speaker
So, as I'm saying, like Michael C. Hall didn't train his reverse psychology basics, where it's like, hey, stab yourself. The guy's like, I don't want to stab myself. If anything, draw a bullet is like, don't stab yourself. And then it's like, oh my god, I do. And then, you know, ah what? Well, draw a bullet, like, before Simon comes back and takes control, or like helps like take your control, draw a bullet is fighting it, but like it's like it's still too, still apparently still too strong that Michael C. Hall will control over him, because he's about to kill his daughter.
00:54:14
Speaker
Which, does the daughter have an Anabots too? Cause she's like very calm about like her father like... No, no. She has no Anabots. Yeah. I think she's just really young. So she doesn't know any better. But she's quietly patient in this whole movie. She's not one of those annoying kids. It's like yeah so robotic.
00:54:34
Speaker
But yeah, but I guess, yeah, they combined, but Dry Brothers will plus Simon's control help them like kill Michael C. Hall. And then the entire world's like just totally on board with that. It's like, oh, the the most powerful like billionaire on the planet it just got murdered on like live television across the entire world and we're all cool with it. And then I also love like his henchmen are just like immediately just like leave, just like, hey, we're out of here. Bye. Like, and Dry Brothers like, hey, can you turn off the nanobots? And they're like, yeah, sure, whatever.
00:55:05
Speaker
And he just goes like, boop, boop, boop, boop. On his iPad, it's like, that's it. They're done. and they All the nanobots are off. I know. They're just like, turn it off. OK. Yep, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. He's done.
00:55:22
Speaker
And then it's like, well played. I'm like, what? They like the the old yeah all just secretly hated him. I can see all. They were just waiting for him to get killed. It's like, finally. Someone killed him.
00:55:36
Speaker
route here. i go i go I go back to my job at Starbucks or whatever. I mean, do you need caffeine? Cause won't you just let someone else take control of your body and then just sort of ride out the day, you know, like that's another thing I know is nitpicking again. But if you're a top player, when you want your like your avatar guide to be in tip-top shape for the next game, like eat the best, and be but you know just be ready for the devil game. Yeah, there should have been like a Hunger Games thing of like, oh, like your you sponsors, and they're like they're giving you like you know steak or whatever. like they're like yeah treor you should be like You should have this luxurious like prison cell or something. but's He's in like he's like solitary.
00:56:25
Speaker
Well, I guess you're the best player because if your avatar gets killed without the game, like you're just like, oh, you come back and like, well, my player is dead. Like, what? yeah I mean, it's still a jail. And also, also like, Alison Lowman, who's like the hacker girl, she's she was able to get into prison multiple times. Like, you know, confusing. Was she like, was she working as a guard? Like, but how did she to get into prison? This is like a maximum security prison, too. Yes. They make it seem like this prison is It's all all death row murderers, yeah. There's a scene really early on where it seems like the prison's in like the Nevada desert. Oh my god, yeah. thing like and But but like it's like there's there's a chain gang, but then Drybrawler is just able to sit by himself and just like sit you'll sit in on a rock and then jump on the top because everybody's doing like weird rhyming like things with him. Tillman, Kilman, I'm a thrillman. Just raps at him. yeah
00:57:22
Speaker
Which I'm sure, I'm sure it's like 100% just how long it was like improvising. Yep. Which is fine. He's great. And also like that, that one guy just tries to run away and gets like killed, but like... I don't know how he died. He just flies up in the air. It's like they blast him like a concussion gun or something. They don't have that technology. It's like, it's like, it's like, cause it's the future, but it's not like we have like this like crazy like gravity gun or something. But yeah, he's like, he's blasted in the air.
00:57:49
Speaker
That's how he died. I don't know who pulled the trigger, though. Yeah. You saw your guns, your sound, and then you see the image of the guy fly upward. Yeah. And they cut to like the exceed. That's it. Yeah. I was like, wait what? Because it's not brought up again. That weapon they use doesn't get used later on. They don't go back outside like this in the prison. Yeah. So and then, yeah, the hacker got in there. Hmm.
00:58:19
Speaker
Because they also seem like it's miles away from the city.
Final Critique of 'Gamer'
00:58:22
Speaker
The jail in the city is not like an easy commute. where where Also, where are they like staging these like slayer matches? Because it's like giant, abandoned like city blocks. So this was filmed in like Albuquerque, New Mexico. OK. Oh, yeah. I think i think Michael C. Hall's house is like a theater? Like some sort of theater there? Oh.
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's it's like these giant, it's like, it looks like Chernobyl. Like it looks they're like he's like abandoned like Russian streets or like it's like our nuclear bomb went off and now we're like in this like abandoned military facility or this abandoned like downtown area. If this was like mostly in those battle scenes, right? This movie, like one of those like tricky DVD movies.
00:59:12
Speaker
It looks like a tax credit to be there, right? Like there's something about that area that looks like just streams, like filming tax credit. It was, it yeah, this is, this is like one of the, where like, that's why like Steven Seagal or like I've heard they film all this movies with like, like West, like Eastern Europe or whatever. Yep. Yep. It looks like that. It has that. It's like, it's like Bulgaria or something.
00:59:36
Speaker
Um, but but yeah, got yeah, but yeah, Albuquerque, that's crazy. Yeah, it's such a weird location. ah But I mean, this message is fine. I think it's just sloppily told where it's like, hey, you know, playing with human lives is not humane.
00:59:56
Speaker
yeah ah Even the best technology has glitches.
01:00:02
Speaker
And I don't know, sometimes the angry teen is like the best character. Like he comes in clutch in the end. Like, is that I don't know what this message is.
01:00:14
Speaker
And sometimes your best help is a horny 17 year old who loves peanut butter sandwiches. Eddie, any anyd butter, pistachio butter. I think is that like Keith David's like final line of this movie is just like they make that.
01:00:26
Speaker
Yeah, I guess this is the pistachio butter. They make that. I'm wondering also, is that improvised? Was that scripted?
01:00:37
Speaker
Just like, just like, just like, yeah, just come but like crazy like a local learner just like make up ah insane requests for something and then keep the oh no that that's on his last line. His last line is when they release the kid and he goes back home.
01:00:50
Speaker
Yeah. He's, he's also the, like the, uh, the person who says slayers. That's nice. I noticed that. I, it reminds me of back when he was in like halo and I was like, Oh, Hey, David around this time, halo ODSD came out. So still a good time for halo.
01:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like i feel like um of the two like weird for you know virtual, like like ah whatever, people being robots or like people that living vicariously to things, I feel like Sturgis is probably the better movie of these two. I feel there's a third one.
01:01:42
Speaker
Like in like in like 2009 or like just in general did avatar come out around this time, too I Think that might have been like December like December 2009. Yeah, it was just like a whole bunch of lines Yeah, the weird it's the weird zeitgeist. They're just like oh, what if we like we're in like other bodies? We like lived like through other bodies. Yeah, that's all I was thinking like now There's like another and I feel there's another thing that was aping off of that too. Mm-hmm
01:02:19
Speaker
Yeah, but like, at least it's like surrogates, like the people that like, and like, you're actually like, are like, you're like set, you're like feeling all the sensations of like your robot body. And there's like the whole thing about where like people like never leave their house. They just like live their entire life through like their surrogate. Yeah. It's like they go to duties and do whatever, but then at home, they just spend a few hours doing their day job and they go back and then they go out, they stretch outside of their surrogate, Bob to like, I don't know, go to the bathroom.
01:02:48
Speaker
Yeah. They're like, they're not shaving. They're not dyeing their hair. They're not um wearing the best clothes because they don't have to. I don't know. it's like we We're going to talk about surrogates one of these days. Well, it's anniversary. I mean, that that's it's anniversary is coming up at the end of this month. But I think we're already kind of figured out how different we'd watch. But ah yeah, maybe maybe sometime.
01:03:15
Speaker
Or maybe if we forgot like a list of like, top five ah movies where you live in like a virtual avatar or something or like humanity like like ah Yeah experiences like life virtually or something like But yeah gamer, uh, you know It was uh, it's definitely uh You know, very, uh, no, what's the word like jarring to watch? Like, it's not a, it's not pleasant to watch.
01:03:56
Speaker
it It's it's, um, it's definitely, it's definitely not like, I try to think I, I, I probably put like of all the devil detailer movies, I probably put it at last. I probably put Ghost Rider Bob with this one too. And then obviously both crank movies are way better at this one. Oh yeah. Crank one and two are like the right amount of weird action and Comedy perfect like perfectly like Cass Jason Statham just like know exactly what the hell the movie is. It's like going full bore into it But drama baller is okay in this because there's a little bit of like feel like the actions good with him and then The drama where he's like shouting to like shut up and tell those tell his wife. He loves her really great Yeah, I feel like that's the weird thing though was like he is like doing even like ah like an actual like legitimate Dramatic performance of this movie and everyone else is is like it's like ah like an insane cartoon character I'm like coke
01:04:45
Speaker
Yep. I guess I guess ludicrous is also like kind of like being serious, but I don't know. He's in this movie just talking to like a screen for most of it. And then he's on a screen. He's like, he's like, he's mostly that side of screens. And he's like one scene where like the humans headquarters, also like a arcade, like an old arcade.
01:05:05
Speaker
And then I had to like remember that because it makes it seem like when the magazine halls, like I show up, they flashlights at everyone. They just fall down. It's like they ran out of budget for like gun effect or something. Yeah. there's Like that's that goes along with like that guy that got shot in the air. It's like, what what did they shoot them with? Like psychic energy, like it's yeah it's that's just like, oh, we have that because they didn't because they didn't have nanobots. It's like they it's not like they can shut down their nanobots.
01:05:36
Speaker
Maybe they did. I don't know. Which also, that should have been, that should have been a thing too when this movie was like, they should have, like Michael Seale should have been, or someone should have been like, totally, like totally shut down someone's body if they have nanobots. It's like, you just, like, you just, they turned them off. They like, followed out. Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:53
Speaker
Like I feel like it should have been something more like nanobots were given out to people. Like I'm not sure if you ever read the storyline for like extremists like Tony Stark, Iron Man, where he gave people like free nanobot upgrades, like so that they can like, um like kind of change themselves, lose weight, look big, look great. But then they had to keep paying like for a subscription fee you or else like he reverses it and then they lose that real quick.
01:06:22
Speaker
And it should have been that where it's like, oh, Hey, like nanobot technology has come really long way where people feel better and like, are able to do things. And like, it's sort of like a.
01:06:34
Speaker
And then it's like, okay, but there's like guidelines. And then it turns out like Michael C. Hall can get around the guidelines with his like, Oh, I can also like control you. Like his plan work. But then it's like, he has to then tell the government where it's like, Oh yeah. Um, so I forced these people to do that. And it's like, okay, no, you can't do that. And it's like, well, it's in you too. And it's like, uh-oh, whoa. Yeah, I feel like that's part of the scheme. I feel it was like, he was gonna like, infect like government officials and just like, be like,
01:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna pass laws that like benefit me. I'm gonna force them to pass these laws and I'll infect the president. like But then, wouldn't someone notice where it's like, okay, they're acting really rat erratic, and then just because you control the person, it doesn't mean you know what they think. You need that weird chair that can read your mind. We're not even getting to that part where like they they like read your brother's mind reading machine.
01:07:29
Speaker
Like, yeah, the memory machine that is, like, just make a comment of, like, this is supposed to do this, this is, like, decades away from you built. And the guy's like, oh, we built it with best by parts. I'm not that good. Like, it's like, what? You have a memory machine now? We're not getting into that. That's, like, a whole different problem. Yeah, you get, like, vivid, like, full video, like, memories. I was, like, cinematic from, like, over the shoulder. Like, wait, how are you watching yourself in your memory?
01:07:55
Speaker
It's like, it's like the security game footage somehow, even though it's supposed to be like memory of like, should just all be from his perspective. Like they forgot that basics. I'm like, okay, whatever. It's just like, like, I feel like they did the movie and then they try to figure out that point. they went Oh shit. How do we explain that? Yeah. It was was such a weird, like one off thing just for that scene. It was like, God, we we need a way to like get the evidence against Michael C. Hall. It's like, Oh, a memory machine. They got that.
01:08:28
Speaker
But yeah, ah gamer, ah coke it's a cokefield nightmare. um definite Definitely, is like if you're looking for like realistic gaming ah like representation in movies, definitely not this one. But but um yeah if you're a Gerard Butler our but completionist, we're checking out, I guess.
01:08:53
Speaker
I would say watch any of the other devil detail movies before this would, though. oh yeah work your way up and then ball fall. to like I'm not sure if it's like you start off with this and then work your way up or do you watch the best and then dip your foot into this.
01:09:15
Speaker
Yeah, don't I don't know. I feel like ah you if you watch Craig and Craig 2, then you're kind of like immunized to like their like insanity. you say but But this was like, it's like,
01:09:27
Speaker
all their insanity and like v edits and stuff, but like none of like but it's like less pleasant than Cracker Cracker 2, where it's like that has like the energy level is sustained throughout the whole movie. and It's like that the wavelength of the whole movie. And then this is like like, it's like ebbs and flows of like random craziness, but then it'll be like, yeah, like a dramatically dry butler scene. And then Ghostfire Spirit of Vengeance is just like I don't know, the best Ghost Rider movie, though, it's like the bar is very low. But it has that Nicolas Cage scene where he's like like like, seemingly forever transformation, where he's like, it's like, he scratches the door, he scratches the door.
01:10:14
Speaker
Which they I think I feel like like like a lot of actors in in this movie, they also, like, Neville Neillers told him, like, this is Cage, just do whatever you want, let's impress whoever he wants.
01:10:24
Speaker
I feel like that was their style. It was like, we don't care. We're on rollerblades. We're trying to capture some rollerblades. He's like, giant cameras. Just do whatever you want. All right. So anyway, yeah. So that's it for this week. Come back next week. We're watching another movie that seems like it was fueled by mostly cocaine, Ninja III Domination, which is celebrating its I think this is 40th anniversary next week, or 35th anniversary. um So we'll we'll dive into all the insanity of that canon classic, that including the wonderfully infamous opening golf course scene. And and ah all the other insanity that happens in that movie. So come back for that. um Head over to site, which is we had some issues on the site, but it's back up and running. um We've got all of our reviews and trailers and news ending up there. Head over and check all that stuff out.
01:11:20
Speaker
And yes, for Chris, I am Zach, and we will see you next week. for more for our action head to w w dot everythinga dot com also find us on facebook at facebook dot com slash everything dot action and follows an act at evi action we're also on instagram and thread at everythinging action find more episode of the podcast on apple podcast spotify or your at podcast app choice and be sure to rate and subscribe