Film Writer Tremayne Miller reviews NERVE

Nerve 

By LifestyleMK's Film writer, Tremayne Miller

Nerve , directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, written by Jessica Sharzer.

 Starring Emma Roberts, Dave Franco and Juliette Lewis.  

The Hollywood Reporter writes ‘visually engaging if not very convincing,’ and I would happen to agree.

Nerve  is based on the 2012 debut don’t putdownable novel by Jeanne Ryan.

For fans of The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games was originally a series of three adventure novels written by the American novelist Suzanne Collins. The series set in ‘The Hunger Games universe’ follows the young characters of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. The novels – The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010) have all been developed into films, with the adaptation of Mockingjay split across two parts.

The universe, a dystopia, is set in Panem, a country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and twelve districts, each in various states of poverty.

Every year children are selected from each district to take part in an annual televised “death match” called The Hunger Games.

Another comparison can be made with 1988 film, Heathers, where two high school students (Winona Ryder and Christian Slater) unintentionally make suicide popular.

‘A high-stakes online game of dares turns deadly.’

  Nerve tells the story of high school senior "Vee" (Roberts) who enters an online reality video game of “truth or dare” (minus the truth) called "Nerve" along with other player (Franco), and it isn’t long before the game escalates to the point where the series of levels become dangerous, at the same time each move they make is manipulated by a community of anonymous “watchers.”

 “Nerve” interestingly raises the question of ‘the obsession of social media’ within society, and teenagers who become so lonely that they remain penned up in their rooms, unable to properly develop much needed social skills in order to fully thrive in today’s world. Gradually, it would seem that social media has managed to change the course of DNA in our friendships, as the film proves to be the case.

Vee (Roberts), at first finds the game exhilarating but just how far will she go before she loses her “Nerve”?!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PR9MOPTI7g

Out 11 Aug 2016

© Tremayne Miller