Internet Gaming Hits the Movies

Published on Oct 1st, 2013
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Written by
jp@johnpaulkarliak.com

Internet gaming has become such a big phenomenon over the last few years it should come as no surprise that there’s now been a movie based around it.

Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake star in Runner Runner. The story is all about a Princeton student called Richie Furst (Timberlake) who pays his college fees through online gaming. But his gambling gets him into trouble and Princeton threatens to kick him out for gambling on campus. Undeterred, Richie puts everything he owns into a poker game online, but then loses it all. He believes he has been swindled by the owners of Midnight Black, the online gaming site he plays on, so he heads down to Costa Rica to confront them.

There he attempts to meet with Ivan Block (Affleck) claiming the site has cheated him, and although Block sends him away dismissively, the next day he calls Richie back to offer him a job at Midnight Black. Of course, before long Richie is caught in a web of sub-plots including Costa Rican officials and an FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) who is determined to bring Block down. There’s also a love story woven into the script, with both Furst falling in love with Block’s girlfriend, Rebecca (Gemma Arterton).

Runner Runner was released earlier this year, and it’s now available to stream or download online. If you’ve not yet got into downloading movies online, it’s worth making sure your internet connection is up to the job. Internet bundle packs can be customised to suit your individual needs, so decide what kind of internet usage you’ll need before signing a bundle contract. For instance if you stream movies more than you watch cable TV, you might want to choose a minimum of TV channels and increase the amount of internet downloading you can do per month.

Runner Runner was produced by Leo DiCaprio and directed by Brad Furman. The star factor of Afflect and Timberlake add to the interest that the movie offers, but Arterton doesn’t really bring much depth to the film. Anthony Mackie, who plays the role of the FBI Agent Shavers brings some humorous moments into the movie, but it’s not a film you’d really want to watch more than once.

But if you’re into online gaming then Runner Runner is definitely worth a watch. It’s still on release at some movie theatres but if you missed it on the big screen, you could always stream it at home. It would even be possible to watch the movie while you’re doing some online gaming of your own! Having watched this film though, you probably won’t want to follow Richie Furst’s lead and challenge any of the online casino sites over any losses in person – leave that to the world of fiction!

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