We are now at a stage now when it seems that more and more people are looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. With the advances in Internet technology over the last two decades we have seen an explosion of online stars. Using the likes of YouTube they promote themselves in a variety of ways in order to secure followers. Some methods are more notorious than others. A quick search will find a multitude of stunts and feats of daring, which can easily result in broken bones or worse. Essentially this is the premise for Nerve, the new film from Henry Joist and Ariel Schulman.
Vee is a typical shy high school senior in Staten Island, New York. She’s talented and ambitious. What is holding her back is her surroundings. She has been offered a college place on the West coast but this would involve leaving her mother alone. This looks unlikely as Vee’s brother died in an accident a short time before and Vee’s mother is fighting to come to terms with it. After getting humiliated and rejected by the boy she has a crush on, she decides to shake off her inhibitions and take part in the new online game called Nerve. The game is a series of dares that the participants complete in order to gain cash prizes. The dares are decided by the watchers, an online community that follows the competitors. The object of the gamefor the players is to be the last person standing by completing all of the tasks. At first, it is mild stuff. Kiss a stranger is her first. It isn’t long before things get darker as Vee gains an online following and a reputation.
After a quiet, the film goes into high gear and never really lets up. The way that the online game works is through the legion of watchers who set the tasks and monitor the dares. The film is a mixture of traditional photography and footage from mobile devices. It is visually stylish and gives an overall impression of freshness and speed. It takes full advantage of the city of New York. Mostly set at night the film uses some spectacular lighting to add a gaming type of gloss onto the movie.
The two leads are both excellent in what could be quite generic roles. Emma Roberts is the main protagonist and she aquits herself well. Her character is nicely developed and it is good to see a portrayal of a talented and (eventually) assured female lead. She is far from the finished article but it very able to handle the situations she finds herself in and often talked the lead in terms of making decisions. Dave Franco, as the rather mysterious Ian, is a fine foil to the character of Vee. At first he is the confident one and is inclined to take charge. It is not long before the role gets switched. It feels like a natural move and the character of Ian is not diminished in any way.
There are problems with the film if you think too much about some of the stuff happening on screen. The logistics for the grand finale alone would require a massive amount of set up in what amounted to a very short time scale as the movie takes place over the course of one evening. Some of the other elements like watchers knowing where to be to capture the perfect shot for the online masses seem a bit convenient. These are minor complaints in an overall fun experience. If you go with it and ignore the plot holes it will be a thoroughly enjoyable movie.
- Hugh Bonneville surprises young patients at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children for MediCinema Screening of Paddington in Peru - November 7, 2024
- Portraits of Dangerous Women – Preview - November 7, 2024
- The Brutalist – Preview - November 6, 2024
