Nerve

I saw the trailer for Nerve during one of my recent visits and it had no impact on me whatsoever.  I liked the premise, but my interest had dissipated by the next trailer in the list.  Then a few days later I caught some of the reviews and was intrigued.  How can this run of the mill, uninteresting trailer bring forth a film that my go to critics are praising, this sparked my inner film buff and the ticket bought soon after.


With technology and online celebrity becoming vastly beyond it's means, the crux of Nerve seems very plausible and likely.  Participants either choose to be a "Watcher" or a "Player" in an online truth or dare game without the truth element.  Watchers film players and throw increasingly tense dares their way.  The more risque the dare, the higher the price and and if you fail or bail you lose everything.  How far would a regular girl go before enough is enough?

We spend the majority of the film with Vee, a shy girl who due to the loss of her brother a couple of years earlier does not seem to be getting the most out of her life, purely existing.  The good thing is, Vee is actually a character that is likable.  In most tween fiction films, the main protaganist is someone I cannot stand and therefore the consequences do not hold any threat because I just don't care.  Recent examples are Bella (Twilight), Catniss (Hunger Games) and due to this I avoided such films as The Maze Runner series or Divergent franchise.  With Vee being a likable and endearing character, it makes all the difference.

With only a short run time, Nerve starts pretty quickly and is over with before you start to pick holes.  There are some enjoyable moments that make the journey to number 1 a much more engaging route.  The ending for me was a little flat and unfortunately predictable, I liked were it was going and then it took the easy way out, but I am sure this is the way the book it is based on ended so little extra they could do there.

The side characters are there to add a little extra tension to the running, but they are far too generic to care about.  Thankfully, after the opening scenes we spend little time with them.  Dave Franco as Ian is well played, a "Player" that Vee gets attached to with something hidden in his history.

Easily something I could watch again when it eventually appears on some streaming service and one I can recommend with a cold beer, glass of wine and a duvet