First of all the type of show that is featured in this movie would have never made it to TV in reality, there would have been too many pressure groups lobbying against it. However, this is a movie and it did raise some very good points with regard to the way reality shows dominate viewing schedules and the way they are 'tweaked' and manipulated turning it almost into car crash TV to try and increase the number of viewers, the simple format of 'Big Brother' for example, has devolved so much since the original format of ordinary folk going in and being voted out, it is now filled with the most freakish members of society the production company could find, even 'Nasty Nick' from series one would be considered normal and boring in the, thankfully, last series to be made.
Anyway, I digress. I watched this movie with little expectation and was pleasantly surprised. It was flawed, the format of the actual show wouldn't have worked, on the message boards there are many posts that agree with this point, particularly if it had got down to the final two contestants, if I had been the producer of the show I would have had 5 contestants and six bullets, so the last person left standing wouldn't know if they would die or not which would have added to the tension of the show, knowing someone was going to die with that shot would have deflated the tension (am I really writing this? I'm someone who would have not watched the show in reality) and I would have shown all the bios and introduced them before they had to play Russian Roulette, this would have brought more empathy from the audience and been even more shocking, especially Rick's story, which didn't work for me as he was willing leave his wife a widow and raising a son alone and in debt, would he really have taken that chance? If the family would have received the money despite being the one to lose that would have made his decision more understandable. But, this is a movie and the format of the show did work better for the movie format.
This was actually an excellent film, it moved along nicely and kept me interested, then when it came to the final half hour it really got gripping and had some excellent turn of events. It was well acted by all, none of the characters came across as particularly clichéd (although Rick's came very, very close, Jeffrey Dean Morgan gave it just enough heart to make it believable) and is definitely much better than the 5.8 rating. I gave it an 8 out of 10 and would recommend it.
Anyway, I digress. I watched this movie with little expectation and was pleasantly surprised. It was flawed, the format of the actual show wouldn't have worked, on the message boards there are many posts that agree with this point, particularly if it had got down to the final two contestants, if I had been the producer of the show I would have had 5 contestants and six bullets, so the last person left standing wouldn't know if they would die or not which would have added to the tension of the show, knowing someone was going to die with that shot would have deflated the tension (am I really writing this? I'm someone who would have not watched the show in reality) and I would have shown all the bios and introduced them before they had to play Russian Roulette, this would have brought more empathy from the audience and been even more shocking, especially Rick's story, which didn't work for me as he was willing leave his wife a widow and raising a son alone and in debt, would he really have taken that chance? If the family would have received the money despite being the one to lose that would have made his decision more understandable. But, this is a movie and the format of the show did work better for the movie format.
This was actually an excellent film, it moved along nicely and kept me interested, then when it came to the final half hour it really got gripping and had some excellent turn of events. It was well acted by all, none of the characters came across as particularly clichéd (although Rick's came very, very close, Jeffrey Dean Morgan gave it just enough heart to make it believable) and is definitely much better than the 5.8 rating. I gave it an 8 out of 10 and would recommend it.