Movies that have a focus on the dangers of technology are going to become more and more common as our current technology progresses. This movie takes the idea of online 'game seeping into the real world with disastrous effects and also warns against the dangers of mob mentality. It toys with the fact that online anonymity is the most dangerous thing plaguing privileged white people, so you better think before you post your next antagonistic YouTube comment.
There is a new online game going around and it's called Nerve. People sign up to be given a series of escalating dares for money. When Vee (Emma Roberts) is accused by her friends for not living life to the fullest extent, she is challenged by her friends to join up. When she does, Vee is forced to teamed up with another player called Ian (Dave Franco) by the watchers and soon their dares start escalating to more and more dangerous things to get to the final round.
Nerve is a bit confusing in who is it's target audience. It seems like it is targeted toward teenagers with its social media concepts and risky behaviour, but in its execution it comes of as though it's a movie for adults, showing what the kids are up to these days. It doesn't seem at all surprising that this movie came from Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, who directed both the documentary Catfish and Paranormal Activity 3 and 4. All of those movies revolve around a certain amount of interaction with faceless online users and this seems like the cherry on top of those. I just feel as though the message it's trying to send won't appeal to that target audience.
That's mainly to do with the fact that the movie doesn't really set high stakes for the characters within. We learn that Vee and Ian are going to lose everything if they don't win, but the film doesn't make that feel risky enough. There is an interesting development between Vee and her friend Sydney (Emily Meade) who have a blossoming rivalry in the game, but their feud is solved in a very conventional manner. The performances don't lend anything to the movie as both Franco and Roberts are just not sympathetic or likeable.
For a movie that is trying to warn of the dangers of social media in our current era, Nerve doesn't really do a good job. It's just above those 'prank' videos where people try and show parents that their kids will get in a stranger's car and how gullible the kids are these days. But if it's coming from these directors, that message isn't a surprise at all.
Nerve is a bit confusing in who is it's target audience. It seems like it is targeted toward teenagers with its social media concepts and risky behaviour, but in its execution it comes of as though it's a movie for adults, showing what the kids are up to these days. It doesn't seem at all surprising that this movie came from Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, who directed both the documentary Catfish and Paranormal Activity 3 and 4. All of those movies revolve around a certain amount of interaction with faceless online users and this seems like the cherry on top of those. I just feel as though the message it's trying to send won't appeal to that target audience.
That's mainly to do with the fact that the movie doesn't really set high stakes for the characters within. We learn that Vee and Ian are going to lose everything if they don't win, but the film doesn't make that feel risky enough. There is an interesting development between Vee and her friend Sydney (Emily Meade) who have a blossoming rivalry in the game, but their feud is solved in a very conventional manner. The performances don't lend anything to the movie as both Franco and Roberts are just not sympathetic or likeable.
For a movie that is trying to warn of the dangers of social media in our current era, Nerve doesn't really do a good job. It's just above those 'prank' videos where people try and show parents that their kids will get in a stranger's car and how gullible the kids are these days. But if it's coming from these directors, that message isn't a surprise at all.
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