Review by C.J. Bunce
The Oregon Trail. Not many games can claim to be the first computer game of so many people. And yet that’s exactly what the game was. In grade school! An early roleplay game where players took the driver’s seat–of a Conestoga wagon–trying to survive the trail West without dying of dysentery. We’ve come along way since the game premiered in 1971. And so have movies about humans intersecting with computers, with benchmarks like Tron, The Matrix, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. (Who else is excited to see Dragon’s Lair, the movie? The animated movie is due out this year from Don Bluth and Ryan Reynolds). In Netflix’s latest gamer related movie Choose or Die (formerly titled CURS>R), reality is cursed as an old PC game pulls players into a Saw-like gore-filled horror reality. Unfortunately this movie lacks the fun of Final Destination or Happy Death Day, or any subtlety, and instead arrives as a slashery, forgettable time waster. Its multiple scenes of self-inflicted violence are unnecessary and over-the-top, making this a “free” Netflix movie you shouldn’t inflict upon yourself.
