Picking up, in theory, where the 2009 sci-fi action-thriller Gamer (starring Gerard Butler) left off, screenwriter-director Ilya Naishuller (helmer of the video short Biting Elbows: Bad Motherfucker) drops viewers into the first-person perspective of Henry, a recently resurrected man with no memory of his previous life whose wife (Haley Bennett) brought him back from the dead and was summarily kidnapped, giving Henry’s new life a bit of purpose: Find her and figure out what’s going on. Henry’s only “friend” is a random fellow named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), who likely isn’t all that altruistic. The presence of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch) as a producer teases me more than it should. (Opens wide Friday) (R) Not screened in time for review
This article appears in Apr 6-13, 2016.
