Choose or Die

 

Choose or Die

Starring Iola Evans, Asa Butterfield, Robert Englund, Angela Griffin

Directed by Toby Meakins

Sometimes the only thing worse than a movie based off a video game is a movie about a video game, because the two don't generally intersect all that well - much less when it comes to a completely new idea that you try to get across. "Stay Alive" was one such film: a movie about a group of teens who play a video game and if they die in the game, they die for real, but it's so cliche and terribly acted it was easily forgotten. Then there's the hilariously bad "Countdown," about an app that predicts the time you die and then...well...you die. While the 80s rocked with these video game films like "Videodrome," it was because of the talent behind the screen: most notably David Cronenberg, the father of body horror. In the hands of a "noob," you've got another forgettable video game horror film not worth its weight in quarters.

80s video game aficionado Hal (Eddie Marsan) discovers a 8-bit game called CURS<R and, thinking it's one of those classic choose-your-adventure games, decides to play: and learns that the game can affect reality, leading him to make difficult choices between hurting different members of his family, or die for not choosing. Ultimately he's released when he makes copies of the game, and one falls into the hands of young computer hacker Isaac (Asa Butterfield) and his friend Kayla (Iola Evans). Advertising a $125,000 reward for winning the game, Kayla decides to play it - and learns the real horror that lies within. As she levels up, the challenges become more personal, leading her to make her own life-or-death choices that affect those she loves.

The concept is an amazing one when you think about it: a video game that forces you to make choices that'll deeply affect people around you, as well as changing the parameters of reality itself. Yet somehow "Choose or Die" wasted that opportunity in favor of producing a movie that didn't seem to know its own existence. Rules changed on a dime, and it seemed like the writers had no idea in what direction they wanted to go and, unlike those in the movie, decided to go in both directions at once. This leaves the film a jumbled mess, a story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and that literally changed its own idea halfway through. Instead of being a movie where you had to make choices that'll hurt someone else, it turns into that still, but with a caveat: you gain what the other loses. Even though the film literally gives an entire expository dialogue on its purpose, it still doesn't make sense, which is tragic because in the hands of a Cronenberg or even Wes Craven (RIP), you could've had a resurgence of those spooky classic 80s video game horror films.

The film centers around two hapless heroes: Kayla and Isaac, who's characters themselves aren't given a lot of story. Kayla's younger brother drowned which sent her mother into a depressive tailspin into a world of drugs and prostitution thanks to their seedy landlord, and all Kayla wants to do is save her mother and make a better world for themselves. Iola Evans disappears in the role - and by that I mean she literally becomes an invisible character, devoid of any sense of emotion, tension, or human feelings - as she sleepwalks through the performance. Isaac's an even lesser-drawn character, a generic computer coder who has the hots for Kayla and...that's it. Asa Butterfield may not find decent work lately, but even he's above this dime-store story.

First-time director Toby Meakins could be forgiven since it's his first film, and he probably didn't have a large enough budget, and I will say there were some cool scenes that he managed to pull off, but those moments were fleeting and few and far between. Instead of providing a story about the creation of the game that actually makes sense (because the reason in the movie didn't make a lick of it) and instead of providing unforgettably gruesome kills, the film settles for mediocrity at each and every turn, giving the viewers a more frustrated feel because it was something that could've been done so much better, but instead decided to call itself "Game Over" before it even started.

The Score: D-