Game Over
Within the space of the past two weeks or so, the gods of cinema declared it within out interest to allow Adam Sandler to release not one, but two films in which he takes leading roles. If you saw my review of the awfully dull The Cobbler last week, you would have seen that Sandler's first attempt at some sort of cinematic redemption flopped entirely yet the much more publicised release of this weeks' Pixels seemed always to be the one in which Sandler was set to be at least slightly praised for. What can be said about the Christoper Columbus directed Pixels then? Is it any good? Not really. Is it terrible? Not at all. Does it feature Adam Sandler as a burned out low-life with no sense of future or accomplishment who somehow ends up with the gorgeous supporting actress through a wacky turn of events? Of course. Sandler territory here we are.
Years after a space probe featuring classic arcade games from the early 1980's is sent into space, weaponised versions of such games declare war on Earth, much to the horror of President Cooper (Kevin James) who enlists the help of childhood friend Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) and Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) to use their expert knowledge on arcade games to defeat the evil presence that has engulfed their planet. Sound cool right? And to be fair to Pixels, its' well designed CGI and willingness to go full retro does play the cool card every time said arcade games are brought to life on-screen, but is ultimately let down by a farcical and cliched script, cringe-worthy acting, particularly, and strangely, from Dinklage of all people, and an adolescent desire to retire to age-old jokes about women and sex. Typical Sandler territory then. Although it may not be as mind-numbingly boring as The Cobbler, Pixels ultimately fails at bringing a rather cool premise to fruition and instead only accomplishes in being another cog on the wheel of Sandler's embarrassing filmography.
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