For those who are often on social media and have been drawn to it as a participant or viewer, will no doubt enjoy this lively teen techno-thriller! An exciting and fun ride… Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman’s “Nerve” is recommended!
TITLE: Nerve
FILM RELEASE: 2016
DURATION: 96 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, (2:40:1), English 5.1 DTS X Audio, DTS Headphone X Audio, English 2.0 DTS Digital Surround Audio Optimized for Late-Night Listening, Spanish 5.1 DTS Digital Surround Audio, English Description Audio, English and Spanish Subtitles, English SDH
COMPANY: Lions Gate
RATED: PG-13 (Thematic Material Including Dangerous and Risky Behavior, Some Sexual Content, Language, Drug Content, Drinking and Nudity, All Involving Teens)
RELEASE DATE: October 25, 2016
Based on the Novel by Jeanne Ryan
Directed by Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Screenplay by Jessica Sharzer
Produced by Anthony Katagas, Allison Shearmur
Co-Producer: Stephen Meinen, Charles Miller, Orlee-Rose Strauss
Executive Producer: Michael Paseornek
Music by Rob Simonsen
Cinematography by Michael Simmonds
Edited by Madeleine Gavin, Jeff McEvoy
Casting by John Papsidera
Production Design by Chris Trujillo
Art Direction by Marc Benacerraf
Set Decoration by Kara Zeigon
Costume Design by Melissa Vargas
Starring:
Emma Roberts as Vee
Dave Franco as Ian
Juliette Lewis as Nancy
Emily Meade as Sydney
Miles Heizer as Tommy
Kimiko Glenn as Liv
Marc John Jeffries as Wes
Machine Gun Kelly as Ty
Brian “Sene” Marc as J.P.
Rightor Doyle as Bergdorf Salesman
Josh Ostrovsky as Dirt Beard
Eric D’Alessandro as Hype Boi
Samira Wiley as Hacker Kween
Industrious high school senior Vee (Emma Roberts) is tired of living life on the sidelines. Pressured by friends to join the popular online game Nerve, Vee teams up with a sly and charming competitor (Dave Franco) for just one dare in what seems like harmless fun. But as Vee is caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition, the game takes a sinister turn with increasingly dangerous acts, leading Vee into a high-stakes finale that will determine her entire future.
Social media gone dangerous in the teen techno thriller “Nerve” based on the Jeanne Ryan novel and directed by Henry Joost (“Cat Fish”, “Paranormal Activity 3”) and Ariel Schulman (“Catfish”, “Cover Girl”, “The Best Friends Game”) with a screenplay by Jessica Sharzer (“Speak”, “American Horror Story”).
The film stars Emma Roberts (“We’re the Millers”, “Aquamarine”, “Wild Child”), Dave Franco (“21 Jump Street”, “Now You See Me”, “Warm Bodies”), Juliette Lewis (“Natural Born Killers”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”), Emily Meade (“Money Monster”, “Trespass”, “That Awkward Moment”), Miles Heizer (“Parenthood”, “Rudderless”, “The Red Thunder”), Kimiko Glenn (“Orange is the New Black”, Hairbrained”), Marc John Jefferies (“Notorious”) and Machine Gun Kelly (“Viral”).
And now “Nerve” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in October 2016 courtesy of Lions Gate.
The film begins with high school senior Venus “Vee” Delmonico (portrayed by Emma Roberts) debating on whether or not to accept the California Institute of the Arts admission. Her mother (portrayed by Juliette) wants Vee to attend a local and affordable college, as she has a difficult time dealing with the death of her son, Vee’s brother.
For Vee, she’s often helping out her popular friend Sydney (portrayed by Emily Meade), a school cheerleader who has gained many followers as a player in the social media online reality game “Nerve”.
The game revolves around watchers who play to watch and players who must accept dares from their watchers and those who complete the dares will receive huge money rewards. And the the more dangerous the dare, the more money they receive.
Sydney feels that Vee is lacking adventure and doesn’t really do anything, so when Sydney dares Vee to say hi to her crush, a jock named J.P., Vee doesn’t want to do it. Prompting Sydney to go to J.P. and telling him that Vee likes him, in which the jock is not interested.
The only person that feels bad for Vee is her friend Tommy (portrayed by Miles Heizer), but when Vee is tired of living in Sydney’s shadow and being told that she is unadventurous, she immediately participates in “Nerve” and chooses to be a player.
The game collects all her personal data, bank information and gives her three major rules that must not be broken:
- All dares must be recorded on the player’s phone
- Earned money will be revoked if a player fails or bails on a dare.
- They must never talk to law enforcement about the game.
The top two most-watched players will take part in the final round.
As Vee and Tommy head to a restaurant, she receives her first dare and that is to kiss a stranger at the diner for five seconds.   Wanting to change, she goes up and kisses a stranger, a guy named Ian (portrayed by Dave Franco). Ian tells Vee that he is a Nerve player and the watchers dare Ian to take Vee to the city and together they must take on dares that increasingly become risky and dangerous.
Meanwhile, when Vee and Ian’s points start to increase, Sydney becomes jealous of Vee’s sudden rise to popularity on “Nerve”.
But as the risks of “Nerve” leads to deadly dares, will Vee and Ian continue to participate?
VIDEO:
“Nerve” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:40:1 aspect ratio). The film looks very good in HD as closeups show great detail, skin tones look natural, while black levels are nice and deep.
I didn’t notice any banding issues, crush or artifacts during my viewing of the film. Picture quality is fantastic!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Nerve” is presented in English DTS-X Audio, DTS Headphone X Audio, English 2.0 DTS Digital Surround Audio Optimized for Late Night Listening and Spanish 5.1 DTS Digital Surround.
The lossless soundtrack features crystal clear dialogue but the majority of the soundtrack primarily through its awesome musical soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Nerve” comes with the following special features:
NOTE: You must choose Player or Watcher Mode
- Creating Nerve – Featuring 15 character pods with short features revolving around the promotion, outtakes, the music, the cast, the dares and filming of “Nerve”.
- The Players – A text and music featurette of the characters in the film and their profiles.
- “Do You Have the Nerve?” Game (An Interactive Game of Dare) – A game featuring dares that you must complete.
- “Are you a Watcher or a Player?” Quiz – A quiz
EXTRAS:
“Nerve” comes with a slipcover, a Blu-ray and DVD version of the film and an UltraViolet code.
For those who are into social media, especially live vlogs or streaming video, the concept of daring individuals and seeing the most intriguing to the most tragic situations.
With the film “Nerve” based on the novel by Jeanne Ryan and the film directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, we get a film that explores the “what if?” a online reality game called “Nerve” was created. Where one can become players and win a lot of money by taking part in dares or a watcher, which enables one to dare the player in order to win money.
The higher one gets in the game and takes on dangerous risks, the bigger amount of money gets deposited in their account, as long as they don’t break the rules.
The film revolves around high school senior Vee Delmonico who has been living under the shadow of her popular cheerleader friend Sydney and has never really done anything adventurous. And with her dreams of going to an expensive art school, hopes are dashed as her grieving mother wants her to stay local and attend an affordable college.
When her friend Sydney embarrasses Vee, it’s enough for her to try something different and prove that she is not unadventurous. And so, she takes part in the game “Nerve” as a player. And when her first dare is to kiss an anonymous guy, it happens to be another player named Ian.
And when the two are egged on to take on dares, such as trying on an expensive outfit, then trying to escape from the building with barely any clothes on, to riding on a motorcycle with Ian blindfolded and having to ride for 60 seconds as Vee tries to direct him in traffic, needless to say, things become riskier and more dangerous as the level of dares start to escalate and become more dangerous for both of them.
While I don’t see this film as farfetched, considering I saw some wild things during the years I was watching or participating as a live vlogger on justin.tv to live video on social media, I can see how requests or dares can influence one’s direction. But when money or likes is involved, considering the crazy things we see on YouTube, needless to say, people tend to go far.
And “Nerve” is a film that explores the idea of what happens when watchers try to go too far in their dares. Suffice to say, I like how the film ended and while a film that his hip in style thanks to its musical soundtrack, there is a moral message in the story and no doubt a glimpse of how far things can get.
Both Emma Roberts and Dave Franco did a fantastic job play the characters of Vee and Ian, but it helps boosten the coolness of the film when you have cameo appearances by YouTube star, Casey Neistat.
As for the Blu-ray, picture quality is fantastic and it’s bumping and slick musical sountrack no doubts adds excitement and enjoyment to the overall film. And there are a good number of special features included.
Overall, for those who are often on social media and have been drawn to it as a participant or viewer, will no doubt enjoy this lively teen techno-thriller! An exciting and fun ride… Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman’s “Nerve” is recommended!
