Gamer

Eh?  Pretty much a recycled plot of prisoners being offerred the chance of freedom only if they offer themselves up as pawns in a game with really slim odds of survival: Logan's Run, Death Race, The Running Man, etc.  The same story cable runs Gamer but with a different twist in that a somewhere out there, regular civilians are able to control real people (the prisoners) in guerilla warfare scenarios.  So, the hero is controlled by a 15 year old kid who doesn't see anything more than a game and the lives of the prisoners as nothig more than a lost game token. On the other hand, the prisoner has a family: a daughter he is trying to get to and a wife who is a "bot" in another game that involves sex and all.

Directing is fine as it isn't so bad that it makes the film totally unpalatable.  The cinematography is fine and loaded with bits of gore.  The script...I didn't really notice one?  The only thing missing from this prisoner/game type of movie that you had in the others listed is that about 10 minutes showing how the hero was imporperly imprisoned are missing.  Not missing are the gratuitous boob shots to make sure you watch till the end.

Ludacris, Kyra Sedgewick of tv's "The Closer" and Michael Hall of ShoTime's "Dexter" are here and are possibly using this as a vehicle to get to (or back to) the big screen.  For Gerard Butler, well, he does his deal but I am seeing something similar to his being a UK import like Jason Statham and trying to bust in to the big screen with the action genre.