***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***
While I agree with a previous reviewer that the acting in this movie was terrible, I have to say that quite frankly, it really didn't matter. The best acting in the world can't make a badly written script suddenly become good. And a badly written script can make an otherwise great actor look REALLY BAD.
***SPOILERS FOLLOW FROM HERE*** So the theme here is that the world is badly over-populated and can't sustain the full population. Nearly everyone on the planet is a slave, with a small handful of people running things who are not. Let's pause right there and consider the logic behind this for a moment. If there are SO MANY people on the planet that losing 9 BILLION from the population doesn't even put a dent in the population crisis, and nearly all of those alive are slaves who hate the way they're forced to live, that's EASILY enough to start a rebellion and overthrow the small number who are making their lives miserable. But let's suspend our disbelief and put that logic aside for the moment. If that many people are unable to overthrow the elite few, then those elite few must have some REALLY SICK advanced technology, right? OK, so if they have that kind of tech (which is clearly the case judging by the massive flying ships near and at the end of the movie), why the heck haven't they left the planet and colonized the Moon, Mars, or just plain built massive space stations complete with colossal hydroponic farms to accommodate all those people? I mean, with that many billions of slaves, it wouldn't take long at all. And you can't say there aren't enough mineral resources to accomplish it, since they clearly have enough tech to mine asteroids, the moon, or other planets, not to mention cannibalizing and recycling outdated tech for its materials.
So what's their answer to over-population instead? ***insert fake sarcastic tone*** Let's create a game that kills off 90% of the people who bet on it. I mean, we're insanely greedy, megalomaniacs, so if we have too many slaves to support everyone, it's probably best to just kill off a few billion of them rather than using that man-power to expand our power and wealth, right? ***end sarcasm***
I really wonder if the writers ever bothered to stop and think about the logic behind this script (or lack thereof). Combine the bad writing with a juxtaposition against other movies with similar themes (Hunger Games, Maze Runner series, Cube (not that I liked Cube all that much, but even THAT had better writing and more of a point than THIS movie)) and this movie totally bombs, which is a huge understatement. This movie is comparable to a 2-year old with a toy steering wheel on their lap, sitting next to mom or dad in the car and believing that driving with their toy is comparable to what the parent is doing with the real car. The simple fact that I've even taken the time to write this review is an OVERWHELMING testament to how bad this movie was. Seriously. I have never written a movie review before, even though I've seen some truly horrible movies. But this one was so bad, I actually created an IMDb account for the first time ever for the sole purpose of writing this review so I could let people know how horrible the movie was. It really was THAT BAD! Taking the time to write this review was a FAR better use of my time than actually watching the movie.