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elevancy seems to be the one selling point of today’s modern movies. What, with Purge: Election Day and Finding Dory, everything in popular culture is calling back to something present in our lives. Therefore, it’s not too tough to believe that what modern audiences need is further critique on the harms of social media and the Internet as a general principle.

Directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, Nerve stars both Emma Roberts and Dave Franco as two teenagers in a world dedicated to vicarious thrill seeking. The world of Nerve is one that has created a “game” in which humans can choose to accept dares in return for monetary gain, but as time progresses, and the further the contestants enter into the game, the more hectic the dares become.

What starts for Roberts’ character “Vee” as a fun way to standout, suddenly becomes a high of sorts, the adrenaline of competition swallows any sort of doubt she may or may not have. The stakes in Nerve continually ramp up to a finale, the dares slowly increasing not only in scale, but also danger. Is Vee willing to put it all on the line, or has she gone too far?

Addiction seems to be extremely relevant when considering the topic of this film. What starts out as innocent fun, suddenly becomes disastrous and possibly deadly. It’s never the first sense of a new and interesting feeling that ruins lives forever, but the continuous desire for a repeat of the “high.”

“This film serves as a critique of how we, as consumers, while maybe not directly commanding evil things to be done, can indirectly cause problems.”

For Vee, that high is adrenaline and money. After a certain point, Vee has no where else to turn, for having been so enveloped in this game of dares, she has no practical way of getting herself out when she has enough. It’s interesting to consider what exactly the movie may or may not be asserting about addiction. Could addiction be just one “no” away?

This film serves as a critique of how we, as consumers, while maybe not directly commanding evil things to be done, can indirectly cause problems. For example, when a known brand of shoes can’t keep up with demand because their American production centers can’t produce shoes fast enough, they export their labor abroad. In exchange for cheaply priced shoes and a larger selection, we remove jobs from our neighbors. In Nerve, the audience may not be demanding for illegal acts to be done, but by giving people a platform to talk about these acts, inevitably leads to them being done anyways.

It’s also interesting to note that the dystopian future of Nerve is very similar to our past. The comparisons to the Coliseum in Ancient Rome are very prevalent. When the online members demand Roberts’ and Franco’s loyalty to the game over societal rules, it becomes familiar in this way. This also speaks to how audiences sometimes don’t consider the consequences of their actions on the lives of others. This is mostly because their viewpoint of these particularly horrible acts is from the perspective of this game as entertainment rather than actual human lives; the empathetic connection is clearly and severely lacking.

Overall, Nerve serves as a fascinating look at our own humanity: whether or not our sociability is a hindrance or a blessing. Gorgeously styled, this movie is a thrill ride from start to finish and will do (and has done) well with its target audience of teenagers. This is mostly due to how relevant this feeling of dystopia feels to us who live in a virtual reality and see the unrelenting human dependence on smartphones. It’s sleek, it’s stylish, and deserves to be seen.