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Jan 21, 2010 Web Exclusive By NIck Hyman

Neveldine/Taylor, aka Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, have already established themselves as energetic B-movie handymen after co-directing only three films. Their most popular films, Crank and Crank: High Voltage, deserve their own private champagne room in the Hollywood Hall of Fame, and now comes The Running Man for a new generation, Gamer. The film stars Gerard Butler in the Arnold role of death-row convict who's sent to participate in a popular third-person video game-like reality show Slayers, in which he's controlled by a spoiled 17-year old. Slayers was created by big money weirdo and bad guy Ken Castle, played to the nines by Dexter star Michael C. Hall. When an underground group of rebels, Humanz (led by Ludacris, who's got something to say) try to tell the public of how the ex-cons are being controlled against their will, all hell breaks loose, and the future will never be the same.

The 90-minute flick is perfect rental material in that it entertains and doesn't aspire to be high art. What's surprising is that the film is filled with commentary about the power of media and corporate corruption and these ideas are stuffed nicely between the kinetic camera work and solid action. Speaking of camera work, the film was one of the first to be entirely shot using the Red One digital camera, and the special features include a nifty featurette about the filmmakers acting as cinematic guinea pigs by using this new technology. In addition, there's an excellent multi-part making-of doc, commentary, and even more on Blu-ray, making this a home-video package with a high score. (www.lionsgateshop.com)

Author rating: 7/10