Gerard Butler Sci-Fi Action Movie Gamer Becomes Available for Free Streaming

While people often remember Gerard Butler for roles such as King Leonidas in 300 or a vengeful father in Law Abiding Citizen, he has also appeared in many lesser-known titles. With nearly 50 feature films to his name, dating all the way back to 1997’s Mrs Brown, there are bound to be a few titles that have slipped through the cracks and even a few that did not get much attention at all.

That was the case for the overlooked 2009 sci-fi action thriller Gamer. Despite being described as Stephen King meets The Matrix and starring Butler, it underperformed at the box office, earning only $42 million worldwide on a $50 million budget. Like all great films that were ahead of their time, Gamer is getting a second chance at winning over audiences on a free streaming platform.

‘Gamer’ is Gerard Butler at his best

Gerard Butler is at the top of his game in Gamer, where he plays John Kable Tillman, an inmate on death row who fights other competitors to the death. The concept seems straightforward, requiring participants to survive 30 games to win freedom, but there is a catch. The arena is virtual, set in a video game called Slayers, and all of its players including Kable are controlled remotely by wealthy individuals. Butler is joined by a cast that includes Michael Hall, Logan Lerman, Terry Crews, and Ludacris.

Gamer evokes a simulated world similar to The Matrix and captures a dystopian society reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Running Man and The Long Walk. Though the film was not fully appreciated in 2009, its plot feels even more relevant today as technology has become increasingly prevalent in everyone’s daily lives.

Polygon writer Ryan Broderick described the film as a real-life version of The Sims, where flesh-and-blood players are made to dance and drink and have sex with each other inside a theme park of nightclubs and hotel rooms in a 2021 review.

A real-life version of The Sims, where flesh-and-blood players are made to dance and drink and have sex with each other inside a theme park of nightclubs and hotel rooms

Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor bring the frenetic energy of their Jason Statham action movie Crank to Gamer without any of the camp. It is a splatterpunk mess of a film that, perhaps more so than any other movie of its time, manages to capture the unceasing nightmare of today, Broderick continued.

Gamer is now available to stream on Tubi, a free streaming service that does not require a subscription to use.

Source: Polygon