''Hooked on the Game'' (russian: На игре, Na igre) is a 2009 Russian
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by Pavel Sanayev, it is a science fiction adaptation of a comic book applied to video gamers. It is based on Alexander Chubaryan's novel ''Games into Life''.
Working title of the film was ''Gamers. In Search of a Goal'', but it was changed to ''Hooked on the Game'', due to the release of the movie ''
Gamer
A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...
'' starring
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as ''Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Di ...
. In April 2010, the sequel ''Hooked on the Game: A New Level'' was released.
In the spring of 2012,
STS
STS, or sts, may refer to:
Medicine
* Secondary traumatic stress, a condition which leads to a diminished ability to empathize
* Sequence-tagged site, a gene-reference in genomics
* Soft-tissue sarcoma
* Staurosporine, an antibiotic
* STS (gen ...
hosted the premiere of the 8-episode television series ''Gamers'', a continuation of the films ''Hooked on the Game'' and ''Hooked on the Game: A New Level''.
Plot
The film begins with a scene in the house of gangster authorities - Matvey and his friends. To them comes the young boy Vampire who states that he killed their guard and needs to talk with them.
The action is transferred to the month before. The city hosts a cybersports tournament, and the Grandmasters team (Vampire, Doc, Komar, Tall and Jan) wins this tournament. Vampire's girl, Rita (Marina Petrenko), takes the second place in auto racing. Additionally, Vampire's friend, Maxim, wins in a fighting game. Victor Pokrovsky, the president of the company "VIRTUS", gives the guys the first samples of the newest disks, which turn out to be experimental models of scientific development.
After starting the discs, the guys get the abilities associated with their gaming hobbies - the members of the Grandmasters team start to handle weapons with incredible skill, Rita becomes a professional driver, Max gets martial arts skills.
Maxim and his girlfriend Lena drink coffee in a restaurant, where a fight begins with Vazha's crew, Khizir's brother - a criminal authority. Maxim with the help of acquired abilities defeats the attackers with surprising ease. Later, Maxim is seized by Vazha's people and taken to the factory of Khizir. Wanting to save their friend, the company of shooters led by Vampire breaks into the base and with the help of captured weapons destroys all of Khizir's fighters, as well as Khizir himself. They free Maxim and hide weapons at the dacha of Tall. Maxim responds with a categorical refusal on the offer to join the team.
A month passes. Doku does not have enough money, and he offers Vampire to "bet out" a criminal syndicate led by Matvey. The plan fails, and the guys have to kill the bandits. But at this time Rita is kidnapped by the
FSB colonel Lebedev, in combination - the right hand of the oligarch Boris Sergeevich Gromov. Lebedev, through blackmail, forces the guys to work for special services and eliminate bandits.
In the first days, the guys feel all the buzz of a rich life, but when they perform the task of liquidating Sergei Zaritsyn, a businessman who makes the biggest deal with the Bolivian government, Vampire realizes that they work not for special services, but for criminals. He tries to convince Doc not to kill Zaritsyn, but Doc deceives Vampire and successfully completes the operation. At the escape from the battlefield, Rita and Tall are seriously wounded, but thanks to Vampire, everyone manages to leave. Upon arrival at Lebedev's base, Tall dies from blood loss.
Cast
*Sergei Chirkov — Dmitry "Vampire" Orlov
*Marina Petrenko — Margarita "Rita" Smirnova
*
Pavel Priluchny
Pavel Valerievich Priluchny (russian: Павел Вале́рьевич Прилучный; born 5 November 1987) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian actor of theater and cinema, TV host, best known for his roles in the television series ''Silver Spoon'' ...
— Ruslan "Doctor" Avdeev
*Evgeny Kharlanov — Kirill "Komar" Komarenko
*
Tikhon Zhiznevsky
Tikhon Igorevich Zhiznevsky (russian: Ти́хон И́горевич Жизне́вский; born August 30, 1988) is a Russian theatre actor.
Early life
Zhiznevsky was born in Zelenogradsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now R ...
— Konstantin Tall
*Nodar Syradze — Jan Zac
*
Aleksey Bardukov
Aleksey Igorevich Bardukov (russian: Алексей Игоревич Бардуков; born November 18, 1984) is a Russian theatre actor and dubbing. He appeared in over 40 films.
Early life
Aleksey was born on November 18, 1984 into a large fam ...
— Maxim
*
Agnia Ditkovskyte — Lena
*
Viktor Verzhbitsky
Viktor Alexandrovich Verzhbitsky (russian: Виктор Александрович Вержбицкий) born 21 September 1959, in Tashkent, Soviet Union (now Uzbekistan) is an Uzbekistani-Russian film and stage actor. He is well known for playi ...
— Boris Sergeevich Gromov
*Boris Tenin — Colonel Lebedev
*
Igor Sklyar
Igor Borisovich Sklyar (russian: Игорь Борисович Скляр; born 18 December 1957) is a Russian actor and singer. He has appeared in over 30 films since 1974. He starred in the 1994 film, '' The Year of the Dog'', which won the S ...
— Sergey Zaritsyn
*
Mikhail Gorevoy
Mikhail Vitalievich Gorevoy (russian: Михаи́л Вита́льевич Горево́й; born 19 May 1965) is a Russian actor, occasionally credited as Michael Gor in English language productions, best known internationally for playing Vlad ...
— Victor Pokrovsky
*Mikhail Trukhin — Oleg Skolsky
Production
The film was shot in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
. Most of the stunts were performed by the actors themselves.
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, tt1532382
Cyberpunk films
2009 action thriller films
2009 films
2009 science fiction action films
Russian action thriller films
Russian science fiction action films
Russian science fiction thriller films
Films about death games
Films set in Russia
Films shot in Moscow
Films shot in Nizhny Novgorod
Russian vigilante films
2000s vigilante films