Sometimes all it takes is a little tweak to make a tried-and-true story fresh again. Gamer builds on the familiar concept of taking real-life death and dismemberment and turning it into a game show. Gamer, as the name denotes, focuses on violent games. Consider popular online games like Counterstrike or the Battlefield series, where gamers control a gun-toting avatar within the game world. He or she then goes around killing other avatars controlled by real players somewhere else in the world. Gamer takes it one step further, with players controlling real people who really kill each other on a real battlefield. This is made possible by mind control technology developed by the bad guys, naturally. The fighters, of course, are all convicts sentenced to death, so it’s okay if they kill each other for audience entertainment. Caught up in the game is Kable (Gerard Butler), who seems to be the best “Slayer” around, but who can tell if that’s due to his killing prowess or the gaming skills of the player controlling him?

Overall, Gamer looks like a promising film that will appeal to most people who enjoy action films. It may also be one of the very few video game-based movies that doesn’t suck.

Read the official synopsis:

Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid.  Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online games: people play people…for keeps.  Mind-control technology is widespread, and at the heart of the controversial games is its creator, reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall).  His latest brainchild, the first-person shooter game “Slayers,” allows millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death.

Kable (300’s Gerard Butler) is the superstar and cult hero of the ultraviolent ”Slayers.”  Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week.  Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern-day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle’s ruthless technology.

Gamer stars Gerard Butler (300, The Ugly Truth), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Amber Valletta (Transporter 2), John Leguizamo (Righteous Kill, Assault on Precinct 13) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer).

Look for Gamer in theaters on September 4, 2009.