The Gamechangers (2015)

[Joven 373]

A movie with Jack Thompson as the good guy, a BBC "docudrama" about Grand Theft Auto.

 

Did you know GTA Vice City and San Andreas were basically solely the work of Harry Potter, who had a few helpers who did nothing but play ping pong with him and spun around like hackers in a phone booth? Also when you play GTA or mod a game you also spin around a lot. Guys, GTA is dangerous with all this spinning that happens, why didn't Jack Thompson ever bring that aspect up?

 

Did you know that everyone at Rockstar really actually gave a shit about what Jack Thompson said and did? They talked about him more than the Hogwarts people talk about Voldemort, and in as fearful a tone.

 

With CGI work worse than an in-engine cutscene from GTA 3, cheesy dialog, and no real knowledge of the very cases its supposed to be about or the people involved, this movie is a great telling of a story with no real point, or even really side taken or advanced in the end.

[Joven 373]

And a bit of a "second opinion" from the IMDB user ratings.

 

"The Gamechangers clearly states, without sounding like one of lawyers in the film, that the scenes shown have been altered for dramatic effect (or words to that effect) thus any point on how realistic the film really was is entirely out of the question, all that matters is that the events happened. Just happened. And what this film really did was present both sides of the argument in, for possibly the first time in the film industry, a balanced manner.

...

In essence, this film has provided a non-biased ending, which the viewer can take away not a sense of excitement or pleasure from their film but rather leave in a contemplative and quizzical state. And that is rare for modern film. This picture has, as is the aim of many of the characters, broken down barriers and revolutionised real-life based film. But the question after you have balanced your moral scale and decided on a place to stand is why have films documenting real events not provided as bleak and factual interpretation as this one previously?

 

Real-life dramas should let us make up our own minds. And I believe this film has taken the first step in letting us do so."

[RyanSz 3140]

Fuck Jack Thompson. That psychopath was everything wrong with how people assigned blame to things that they knew nothing about and had nothing to do with any given incident. I am so glad that asshole got disbarred and am amazed that it didn't happen sooner. The fact that they try to make him, a man who reneged on a bet to donate to charity if a video game was made to his specifications and then sued Penny Arcade when they made the donation in his name, a saint in this series is horrifying, though not surprising given the issues that Rockstar has had with British media and the BBC. Also

[sillstaw 414]

Kotaku put it best about Thompson in this paragraph:

 

At one point in the film he is confronted about his infamous “Pearl Harbour” comments (the actual quote: “Oh, and certain regional governments in Japan have banned the sale of the Grand Theft Auto games to minors, but Japan’s Sony has no problem whatsoever dumping this garbage into American kids’ brains. Looks like Pearl Harbor 2 by Sony/Take-Two”). In the scene, he appears vaguely ashamed. In real life, he doubled down, saying: “What the Japanese are doing to our kids is insensitive and racist. The Japanese have for a very long time dumped pornography into this country in a fashion they would not tolerate in their own country. It is another version of Pearl Harbor. [...] As for the offensiveness of the Pearl Harbor comment, it’s accurate and it’s needed.”

 

Also, Bill Paxton barely resembles Thompson. Somewhere else, somebody pointed out that John Slattery resembles him more.

[RyanSz 3140]

Can definitely see Slattery as Thompson.