Welcome back to Movie Recapped. Today I will show you an action,
adventure, crime film from 2016, titled Nerve. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
Venus “Vee” Delmonico, a high school senior from Staten Island, logs in on her laptop.
She opens Spotify, puts on music, and checks her email from CalArts University.
She got accepted, but she’s doubting whether to go because she doesn’t want to leave her mother alone
on Staten Island. Venus starts writing an email to politely decline CalArts when a notification
pops up that her crush, JP Guerrero, tagged her in a photo she took from him. At the same time,
her friend Sydney video calls her. They talk about Venus’s CalArts application and about a new online
game called Nerve. Sydney opens up the game and a robotic voice explains how Nerve is like truth or
dare, minus the truth. The robot also says that you can play either as a watcher or a player.
Sydney is a part of the game as a player and thinks it’s cool, but Venus tells her that
the game looks sketchy. Later in the kitchen, Venus talks about college with her mom, Nancy.
She hasn’t told her mom that she applied to CalArts. That’s why Nancy still thinks her
daughter will study on Staten Island and that they will be roommates. Venus suggests to her mom they
rent out Mike’s room on Airbnb but Nancy gets angry and says no. Mike is Venus’s brother who
dies two years ago and both Venus and her mother are still dealing with the loss. Vee is an amateur
photographer so she goes to the school’s football match to take photos for the school newspaper. Her
friend Sydney is a cheerleader and before the game starts, she asks a friend to film her for Nerve.
Turns out, she has a dare from the game and has to show her naked but during the match.
Everybody is in shock, but Sydney completes the challenge and wins a few bucks in the process.
Next, we see all types of challenges completed on Nerve. When you enroll as a player,
the game takes all of your data and knows what kind of challenges to send.
Anonymous watchers pay to see their favorite players compete to the finals.
The watchers can also give dares to the players and are encouraged to film them at all times.
Venus and Sydney are sitting in a fast-food restaurant with their friends when they start
getting into an argument about the game. Sydney insults Vee, telling her she always stays in her
comfort zone so she can’t understand the game. She tells Vee that in real life she’s not a player,
only a watcher, and dares her to make the first step with JP and say hi. Vee refuses the dare so
Sydney goes to JP herself and asks him whether he has a girlfriend. When he learns that she’s
actually asking for Venus, he says that he’s not interested in Vee and that she’s not his type.
Venus is embarrassed in front of everyone so she leaves the restaurant, goes home, and in a fit of
anger, signs up on Nerve as a player. The robot voice from the game explains how the two players
with the most watchers go to the finale and then explains the three rules: all dares must be filmed
to be approved, a player will get eliminated if they fail or bail and snitches get stitches.
Then the game asks for her fingerprint as a way to ID her. As she puts her finger on the screen,
Nerve automatically creates her profile, taking all her information, including bank accounts,
pictures, and favorite books. She immediately gets a dare – to kiss a stranger in a diner for $100.
Vee takes one of her best friends with her, Tommy, who warns her about the game and says
that some kids died because of it. Tommy is a computer geek so he explains that the game
can’t be stopped because everybody that logs on becomes a new server.
When they arrive at the dinner where’s she supposed to kiss a stranger, Vee is nervous,
but decides to kiss a guy reading her favorite book – “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf.
She goes to the stranger and they start talking about the book. The guy is curious about what’s
going to happen in the novel, but Vee nervously kisses him and completes the dare. In an instant,
she runs away and hides in Tommy’s booth who’s filming the dare. The mysterious guy disappears,
but Tommy and Vee quickly notice him dancing and singing in the diner. Venus thinks she’s singing
to her, but Tommy explains it’s all part of the game. The guy, Ian, is playing the game too and
has a dare just like she did. Ian completes the challenge and sits right next to Vee and Tommy.
Then he tells them how he was reading “To the Lighthouse” because that was a dare too.
While talking, both Ian and Venus get another dare - they have to go to the city together for $200.
Venus is reluctant at first, but she likes Ian and is having fun,
so decides to go. They get on Ian’s motorcycle and start driving toward the city. Meanwhile, Sydney
is completing another dare – she has to pretend to fart on people. She’s having a great time until
she learns that Vee entered the game too and that she’s rapidly gaining watchers. At the same time,
Venus is enjoying her time with Ian but they have to part ways because they completed the challenge.
As she awkwardly says her goodbyes, she gets dared to try a dress in an expensive store. Meanwhile,
Nancy is confused because she’s receiving lots of money in her bank account under Vee’s name. Also,
Tommy is concerned about Vee’s safety so he signs up as a watcher and starts watching her feed.
In the store, Vee is having a great time. Plus, she finds out Ian has the same challenge as her
so they spend more time together. This time, dressed in couture. But as they have fun,
another player, Ty, has a dare to steal their clothes from the changing rooms.
Vee and Ian soon notice their clothes are missing. The dress Vee
is wearing costs over $2,000 so she starts panicking because she can’t afford it.
Wondering what’s going on, both of them get another challenge: To leave the store for $2,500.
Since their old clothes are gone and they don’t have any money, they must leave without paying.
But Vee figures out another solution. She notices how the dare doesn’t specify they need to leave
the store with clothes on. So they start running toward the exit in their underwear. When they
arrive at the motorcycle, they find the expensive clothes attached to the handles, with receipts!
Apparently, one of the watchers bought the clothes for them. Tommy still suspects the
game so he calls Sydney and talks about Vee behind her back. Sydney learns Vee’s in the
top 10 players and gets jealous. Tommy also contacts one of his hacker friends to get a
passkey to a site called “Aruba” to find more about Ian and Nerve. He learns that Ian was part
of another series of challenges in Seattle that ended tragically – with a player dying. Meanwhile,
Venus gets a new dare to get a tattoo that Ian chooses. Since he remembered her favorite book,
he picks a lighthouse. They start opening up and get closer to each other. The watchers like
to see them as a couple so they give them another challenge. But this one is not that easy. Ian has
to drive blindfolded at 60 miles per hour through New York City, and trust Vee to give him the right
directions. All this for $10,000. Vee doesn’t want to do the challenge but Ian convinces her to stay.
They go on a dangerous adventure and manage to complete the dare, win the money, and even kiss at
the end. Soon, they gain a massive following and become sort of celebrities in the Nerve community.
Sydney and Vee’s other friends are at a party watching a live stream of Ian and Vee, filmed by
other watchers. Sydney gets upset because she’s isn’t the center of attention anymore. Plus,
during the live stream, Ian starts asking Vee about Sydney and she starts bashing her friend.
She tells him that Sydney always puts her down and uses her to feel better about her
own insecurities. Ian then suggests they go to the party where Sydney is at so that Vee
can show her how cool she really is. Venus doesn’t know she’s actually being recorded
by Ian and that everybody at the party hears her gossiping. Meanwhile, Nancy calls Tommy and asks
him why Vee isn’t returning her calls and why is she receiving a lot of money in her bank account.
Tommy lies to her, telling her that Vee is playing online poker and that’s how she wins the money.
At the party, nobody likes Sydney, especially after they hear how mean she’s been to Vee.
So the watchers start plotting a dangerous dare for her. Soon, as she’s dancing,
Sydney’s phone beeps. It’s a new dare: to walk on a ladder from one building to another. She’s drunk
but still decides to do it. She thinks she can use the attention from watchers after the scandal
with Vee. As she’s walking the ladder in high heels, other people at the party are filming her.
She’s scared but she can’t go back as she needs to complete the challenge to stay in the game.
Sydney starts walking on the ladder when one guy yells that she has to film the dare, otherwise it
won’t count. She takes the phone out of her back pocket and starts filming herself while shaking.
People start yelling and arguing with each other about whether or not Sydney has to film herself.
She tells them to stop so she can concentrate, stands up, and continues to walk. But, already
on her second step, she slips and her phone drops on the ground. Nerve tells her she failed the dare
and eliminates her from the game. Next, we see other people failing at dangerous dares. We also
see a clip of Ty who’s laying on train tracks while a train passes on top of him. Obviously,
this guy is in it for the win and obviously, the game is more dangerous than Vee thought.
Afterward, Venus and Ian are driving through the streets of New York City, going to the hotel where
the party’s at. As they enter the room, everybody starts filming them and taking pictures, like they
are celebrities and the watchers desperate paparazzi. Vee sees Tommy and waves at him,
but he looks disappointed in her. She also learns that Sydney was kicked out from the game,
goes to the bedroom to find her, and enters in on Sydney making out with JP – Venus’s crush.
The two of them get into a massive fight in front of everybody and say hurtful things to each other.
Sydney even says that the coolest thing about Vee is her deceased brother. While they are fighting,
Venus gets another challenge: to complete Sydney’s failed dare for $15,000. Just to show that she’s
better than Sydney, Vee goes to the ladder and walks it all the way to the other building. When
she completes the dare, she gives Sydney a snarky stare and receives a notification that she's
currently first place. Then, Tommy comes and tells her that Ian started the fight between Sydney and
her, and that the whole thing was just one dare for him. Vee confronts Ian. He tries to explain
himself but first, tries to get her away from the watchers who are filming their every step. The two
of them get into an elevator, but Vee is really angry and isn't interested in what he has to say.
She runs out and tries to contact the police. Ian tells her not to go because the third rule of the
game was that snitches get stitches. She finds a police officer and starts telling him everything.
Little does she know that at the exact moment, all the money from her mother’s bank account goes
missing. The game punishes Vee because she broke the rule. Instantly, Ty arrives and apologizes
to Vee before punching her in the face. It was his dare. Next thing we know, Vee wakes
up in a storage unit where a computer explains how she must win the finals to exit the game.
The robotic voice tells her to go on the Staten Island Ferry. But as soon as she leaves the
storage, Ian finds her and starts explaining how she’s now a prisoner of the game. He tells her
that he and Ty played last year. During that game, one of their friends died. They went to the police
but nobody took them seriously. What’s worse is that afterward, their lives fell apart. The
game punished Ty and Ian for breaking the rule and their family’s bank accounts got wiped out. Now,
Ian and Ty have to win the final so they can get out of the game and return their lives to normal.
He tells Vee that Ty would do anything to win. To wants to help her so he explains that he made
an agreement with the watchers. He told them to give him a difficult challenge so he can beat Ty
and end up with Vee in the finals. There, he will let her win so she can return to her normal life.
But, Vee isn’t satisfied with this idea. She contacts Tommy and asks for his help.
Tommy arrives with Sydney who apologizes to Vee. The friends forgive each other and Vee explains
her plan. She wants Tommy to change Nerve’s code and reveal all the watcher’s identities. That way,
all of them will log out and the game will stop. She also sends Sydney on a secret mission that
isn’t revealed until the end of the film. Vee then goes on the ferry while Ian is completing
the dare. He must climb on top of a really high building and hang from a crane for five seconds,
with only one hand. Ian completes the dare and now, is headed toward the final. So is Vee,
who receives a paper bag with a gun on the ferry. The gun is an entrance ticket for
the final competition. Meanwhile, Nancy learns about the game and is looking at the live feed.
She calls Tommy and he tells her to come into the hacker’s den. Vee enters inside a stadium
that’s surrounded by the anonymous watchers, all of who are wearing masks. Ian arrives and their
final dare is to shoot each other. Whoever shoots first, wins the game. Ian tells Vee to shoot him
but she can’t so nobody wins. While all of this is happening, Tommy is at his hacker friends and
Nancy arrives. All of them are trying to change the game’s code and reveal the anonymous watchers.
They are having a hard time too since a lot of bots are blocking them.
Suddenly in the ring, Ty appears with a gun and he’s willing to shoot Ian just to win.
Vee intervenes and addresses the crowd. She calls them cowards and criticizes their actions.
She asks the crowd whether they really want someone to die, all for some stupid game.
Ty is not on her side, he defends the crowd and wants to continue with the dare. Vee then dares
him to shoot her so Ty turns to the crowd and asks whether they approve. The crowd starts yelling
yes. They also get to vote on their phones: yes or no, and most watchers answer yes. After the
crowd’s final decision is made, Ty shoots Vee. Meanwhile, her mother is watching everything
on a live stream along with Tommy and Sydney. Ian screams and goes to Vee who is bleeding and
looks unconscious. All of a sudden, Tommy and the hackers succeed and change the game’s code.
Everybody’s identity is revealed and all the watchers get a notification that they are
accomplices to murder. The crowd starts feeling uncomfortable so one by one, everybody signs out
and leaves the stadium. As Ty approaches Ian and Vee, Vee gets up. Turns out, before the final,
Sydney called Ty and persuaded him to participate in their plan to take down Nerve. He shot Vee with
a blank and the blood is fake. The story has a happy end. The hackers even return Nancy’s
money into her bank account. Vee goes off to CalArts and is in a happy relationship with Ian.
She’s also still friends with Tommy and Sydney. What’s most important – Nerve no longer exists.