The current incarnation of the game show, the "reality" show, usually features a large group of people who eventually get winnowed down to a single winner, often through common consensus of the contestants -- voting. This movie is that idea written into a pseudo-plausible sci- fi scenario. Instead of voting people off the island, you vote them off of this mortal coil.
The idea is clever, and the closed-room concept is a great way to keep your filmmaking budget down. But the script focuses on media stereotypes of who we're supposed to expect that people are when the cameras are watching. Which is to say that even though it was inspired by the reality game show phenomenon (alliances, gliding under the radar, obvious villains, shocking twists, etc.) it also took the strict game aspects of it without bothering to examine if those aspects have any validity in an actual real-world setting. Which is to say that the takeaways from the movie aren't really any different from the takeaways of one of those shows. These people are exactly who we would expect them to be and there's no room for nuance. The filmmakers really missed a golden opportunity to allow characters to bloom to demonstrate actual humanity instead of certain "ideal" game theory character types.
This movie answers the question "what if a reality game show really was life or death"? But there is little else to ponder.
The idea is clever, and the closed-room concept is a great way to keep your filmmaking budget down. But the script focuses on media stereotypes of who we're supposed to expect that people are when the cameras are watching. Which is to say that even though it was inspired by the reality game show phenomenon (alliances, gliding under the radar, obvious villains, shocking twists, etc.) it also took the strict game aspects of it without bothering to examine if those aspects have any validity in an actual real-world setting. Which is to say that the takeaways from the movie aren't really any different from the takeaways of one of those shows. These people are exactly who we would expect them to be and there's no room for nuance. The filmmakers really missed a golden opportunity to allow characters to bloom to demonstrate actual humanity instead of certain "ideal" game theory character types.
This movie answers the question "what if a reality game show really was life or death"? But there is little else to ponder.