Film Review: Nerve - Are you a player or a watcher?

Refreshingly intense, Nerve is a fast-paced techno-thriller which takes a simple game of dares and spins it into a dangerous adrenaline-style contest, sure to have you on the edge of your seat.

Forget about Pokemon Go; Nerve is the future reality competition, testing the bravery of its players. Are you a player or a watcher? How far would you go?

Venus “Vee” Delmonico (Emma Roberts) is a simple small-town girl who’s in the shadow of her outgoing and confident best friend Sydney (Emily Meade). Sydney introduces Vee to the game Nerve, where players are given a dare to complete in a certain amount of time for a set sum of money. Once completed, players await the next dare. Watchers choose who to follow; players are ranked by how many followers they have, on a leader board.

Vee becomes a player after being rejected from a guy she likes. Her first dare is to kiss a stranger at a diner. As the timer gets closer to zero, she chooses her target and goes in for a kiss. After running off to another booth, the said stranger sings and dances around the diner and later introduces himself as Ian (Dave Franco), one of the most popular players of the game.

The dares get harder and harder for more and more money. The watchers are enthralled in viewing Vee and Ian’s ongoing relationship, but the stakes get higher, testing the nerve of the players. As each player fails or bails, it comes down to the final. How far is too far?

In just over 90 minutes, the entire film is one heart-racing visual, with developed main characters who are easily relatable; along with amusing secondary characters such as Tommy (Miles Heizer); and a varied soundtrack you’ll want to listen to again and again. This film is jam-packed to the max.