RoQuEr

I'd like a review or a link to one plz

kdubby

I really wanted to see this. I was completely let down. The movie is filmed like a TV show, always going to break and such. THe acting is damn near horrible. There is no real violence other than people chasing and shooting at each, but barely any of that. The movie really follows one main character, who I never cared about for the whole film. I believe it is fullscreen only and Pro Logic. You should be able to find it at your local BBV, but you will wish you had saved your $4.

Max Fischer

Actually the film is 16:9 WS and although I dont have it in front of me (im at school, its at home), I thought I remembered it being DD5.1; I'm sure on that.

I thought the movie was a great satire on the reality crap that goes on all the time and I liked the look of it was more "realistic" as shot on digital video I assume instead of "film-like" which would have taken away some of the humor of the reality part of it.

All in all, I liked it a lot.

tonyc3742

That's exactly what it was meant to be--it was written more than 5 years ago, when pretty much the only 'reality shows' were Real World. The concept was that The Contenders is a real reality show, where people are randomly chosen, taken to the same town, handed guns, and the last one alive wins. The DVD is a compilation of the episodes for the entire 7th season [Series 7] released in a 'marathon edition.' The cast is supposed to be real people, complete with their sometime lack of acting, lack of emotional control, and other personality foibles.

It's definitely not for everyone, because it does get somewhat intense in some scenes, but I felt these actors were more real people than most of the Gen X morons on the typical reality show.

I despise reality shows, but I loved this movie, and especially now, where we are ever closer to it being reality. I like 'alternate future,' 'what if' scenarios. If you've ever read Richard Bachman's [Stephen King's] The Running Man, the feeling is similar [NOT the movie.] My wife loves reality shows, but she couldn't watch this one--I guess it was too real for her. It really was prescient with its treatment of the characters and the style of the 'show': commercial breaks with cliffhangers, 'Last season, on The Contenders:', pre-show interviews with the contestants, promotional commercials, contestant histories and family interviews, etc.

And some of the deleted scenes are awesome--I liked the, second I think, alternate ending--I thought it had as much social commentary as the whole movie.

I found this one previewed at EB for 4.99 and pounced on it. I had rented it at Blockbuster, but my BB only had one copy, hidden down on a bottom shelf.

According to DVDProfiler's database, it is 5.1, which sounds right.

Josh Z

The premise is amusing, but the movie runs out of gas fairly early. It would have worked better as a half-hour spoof, but dragged out to feature length it's fairly repetitive and draining.

movielib

I think it worked. from me.

On the other hand, my wife wonders what I see in it.

OzFan23

This is an AWFUL film with sub Saved by the Bell acting and writing. It would have made a great short film but it drags on and zigzags from sadistic to funny with no rhyme or reason.


A total letdown

-Shibs

Doesn't the Japanese film Battle Royale have a similar plot to this? I know there has been much praise for that movie and none for this so if you can you might want to check out that instead.

Tarantino

I really liked it. Thumbs up.

LBPound

Saved By The Bell rules. "Sub Saved by the Bell acting and writing" is like 99.5% of all performing arts entertainment.

Cosmic Bus

I love this one. The old woman is hilarious!

DirkBelig

People hating on this film need to stick to cataloging their Olsen Twins videos, cuz they clearly are too stupid to understand the brilliance of this film. It's too bad that satire and irony require intelligence on the part of the AUDIENCE to be effective. (The backstory on the couple with their high school goth video KILLS!)

I've got a tape of this that I'm constantly loaning out and I've had several requests to re-borrow it so they could show it to friends.

Playa haters get away!

Venom

the movie is pretty good. has some good funy parts, i laugh my ass off at the stadium scene. but it did lag alot in parts. and a better definition of the rules could of helped. if dawn survived the last series then why is stuck in the 7th? i also thought it would of been better to have the contestants want to be there, ie, for the money and fame or what not.

Addi88

I love this movie so much. One of my favourites for sure. Bring on Series 8!

tonyc3742

That's the one thing that bugged me about this movie. I can deal with the rest--I don't mind the fight-for-your-life concept, and sometimes life does throw some amazing coincidences at us [case in point--I ran into an old girlfriend from ten years back by randomly playing a game of Magic: the Gathering Online.].
I also don't mind that the contestants were randomly chosen, although it would have been nice to see more of the social context why that occurs [is it to provide the masses with bread and circuses? are we overpopulated and this thins the herd?] But that's going more into the sci-fi aspect of it, which was not Monahan's [sp?] intent or forte.

But the fact that


Love.....Love will tear us apart....again....

Gil Jawetz

That was an outstanding sequence. I enjoyed this film.

Peep

I really liked this movie, although it has one of the worst covers ever. I think with better marketing, it could have been a lot bigger.

The Bus

Isn't the DVD now OOP?

Either way, I got mine when it came out (after it was delayed several times!) and I think it's a fun concept and was executed well considering the cast he was working with... But yes, that Joy Division sequence had me rolling.

movieking

I liked it, but not as much as I hoped I would (nor as much as I expected to, based on the number of glowing reviews that I saw). It is fairly short, IIRC, so it is definitely worth a rental, but I don't think that I would buy it