Everything is fun and games until... Nerve

Synopsys: Nerve is a game like truth or dare, but without the truth. Nerve is or dare (it had to be said, move along). One day, the young people of New York find out that there is a website that dares people to do something in exchange for money and adrenaline. People can play or pay an outrageous amount of money per hour to see other people playing. In this world, where cell phones battery are extremely efficient, a shy girl is tired of not taking any chances in her life and start playing. In the night that follows that decision, everything goes wilder and wilder.

Regardless of my tone, Nerve turned out to be a very entertaining movie, with the right twists and turns, and some sequences that will keep you on the edge of your seats. I went to the theater with no expectations, I didn't come back thinking that I completely wasted my time.

The movie is essentially about how far one can go to impress the faceless crowd that is the internet community. It shows us a story, it shows us the risks of being trapped in such situations, and it shows us how being a faceless crowd and having easy access to other people's life can change our behavior. 

The main risk is to not sound credible. I personally find credible that an app that dares you to film yourself doing something unusual in exchange of money would have success. It's not difficult to imagine that the game goes too far eventually and someone is ready to get hurt in order to not lose the prize. It's not hard to believe that people would watch or film that. Less credible is the indifference of the media (or the police) towards such game, as many others pointed out already. However, the entire movie takes place in less than 24 hours, so it is not impossible to keep it as a secret (and it is in the rules).

Thus we have a credible absurd story unraveling in front of our eyes at a very high pace. She presses that button to start the game and from that moment it escalates with a very constant pace till the predictable grand finale. When I talk about predictability, I only mean that it is easy to expect that something big is going to happen, the curiosity to find out what keeps the viewer attention and makes the high rhythm a good aspect of this movie.

Regardless my surprise of seeing an unexpectedly nice movie, it is fair to say that this light movie has some problems, even accepting its lightness. The main issue is the lack of closure both in the main plot and in the secondary ones. To maintain it spoiler-free, the movie opens arcs of tension between the characters and then simply ends, without resolving most of them. This is usually indicating a lazy writer behind it, or, even worse, a characterization of the story dangerously stereotyped.

Then a message to those that cannot enjoy a movie if it is not scientifically or, as in this case, technologically accurate. Don't go, you will not like it. In the movie, the internet is a magical place, the hackers are wizards, the deep web is an even more magical place with leprechauns, and cell phones' batteries last forever.

In conclusion, this movie is able to surprise you. I'm not sure if it is because of its intrinsic qualities or because of my non-existent expectations, but it is going to surprise you. If you have a couple of hours to spare, it is not a bad idea to lighten up watching it.