Frenzied and relentlessly aggressive,Gamerseeks to translate the sensory barrage of violent video games into movie form--and does a pretty successful job. In a dystopic future, prisoners on death row are given a slim chance of survival as flesh-and-blood avatars for shoot-'em-up game players who control their very brains. The mastermind behind this game (played by Michael C. Hall,Dexter) has secret ambitions worthy of a James Bond villain, but his schemes are threatened by John Tillman (Gerard Butler,300), the only living avatar who's survived more than a few games--so Tillman's already dangerous life turns even more deadly.Gamerrevels in overkill: visual tricks abound as the action speeds up or slows down, skittering to and fro with jump cuts and flashes of light. The dialogue is a catalog of macho posturing or melodramatic exposition. The performances--from a surprising cast that includes Alison Lohman (Drag Me to Hell), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (Crash), and supermodel Amber Valletta--play cartoonish characters with exuberant gusto and commitment. By conventional standards,Gameris a terrible movie… but the movie's creators don't care, because they aspire to step beyond conventional standards. As with their previous adrenaline-driven flickCrank, the writer-director team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor want viewers to plug in, turn off their rational minds, and immerse themselves in sheer sensation.--Bret Fetzer