Stephen King meets The Matrix: Gerard Butler's forgotten flop Gamer is now free on Tubi
Neveldine and Taylor’s 2009 film, with Logan Lerman controlling Butler’s death-row inmate like a game character, is streaming free from 17 September.
Gerard Butler has never exactly been shy about his action credentials — from 300 (all those abs and shouting), to the Has Fallen series where London seems to explode more than my kettle, and the more recent Plane outings. But among all the muscle-bound mayhem, there’s one Butler vehicle that’s been virtually airbrushed from memory: a gloriously daft, altogether dystopian mash-up called Gamer.
Gamer is available to stream free on Tubi starting 17 September.
If you missed it the first time — like, apparently, almost everyone — here’s your chance to catch what can only be described as “The Matrix if Stephen King did the script notes and the blokes behind Crank did the camera work.”
Battling for Freedom in a Murderous Video Game
Gamer came out of the gloriously unhinged minds of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. That’s the duo who made Crank films with Jason Statham, so you know they’re not afraid of a ridiculous concept or blurring the line between action and fever dream. Butler stars as John 'Kable' Tillman, a death row inmate forced to take part in a running-man style televised death-match called ‘Slayers’, only — here’s the kicker — the combatants aren’t fighting under their own control. Each killer is literally piloted by a gamer sat at home with a controller.
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Butler’s character, Kable, is effectively the Ronaldo of this digital bloodsport, his every move controlled by a 17-year-old gamer prodigy (played by Logan Lerman). With 30 wins separating Kable from his freedom and public execution just a joystick twitch away, the plot basically sprints through 95 minutes of carnage, conspiracy, and more than a whiff of future-tech satire.
- Gerard Butler as John 'Kable' Tillman, the death row antihero
- Logan Lerman as Simon, the teenager with the joystick
- Michael C. Hall (yes, Dexter himself) as the villain pulling all the corporate strings
- Ludacris as the leader of a resistance out to break the system
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Big Budget, Disastrous Box Office
On paper, it sounds like a can’t-miss formula: take a sci-fi premise, add a splash of The Matrix, swipe the crowd control of The Running Man, and stuff it with enough video game references to make any millennial feel seen. Shame the execution didn’t quite work for punters. The film reportedly cost $50 million — a decent wedge by late-2000s standards — but sputtered out at around $42 million worldwide. No doubt the fact critics lined up to take potshots didn’t help much. Rotten Tomatoes has Gamer languishing at a dire 29% from critics, though audiences were only slightly more forgiving (a whopping 39% on the Popcornmeter, if you’re keeping score).
The result is a film that seemed destined to gather dust at the bottom of streaming algorithms... until now. If you’re into cult curios, relentless action, or just want to watch Butler punch his way through a parade of digital murderers while a teenager shouts tips at him over headset, Tubi’s got you covered free of charge.