rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1997
Directed by David Fincher; produced by Ceán Chaffin, Steve Golin; written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Starring Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, Armin Mueller-Stahl, James Rebhorn, Peter Donat
When it comes to implausibility, 'The Game' is one of the most fascinating and intriguing examples out there. Afterwards people will think about it and are probably able to find many mistakes and plotholes, but while watching the audience will go along with the absorbing story. Star Michael Douglas and director David Fincher give the imaginative story the right treatment and deliver a very fine thriller, which will keep you second guessing right to the end. Whether it all turns out to be without cheating does not matter. The journey works as great entertainment.
Stiff business man Nicholas Van Orton (Douglas) receives The Game as a present from his brother Conrad (Sean Penn). A company, CRS, prepares a special game for you after it has done numerous physical and psychological tests. The Game is discovering what The Game is, as a news reporter tells Nicholas during, well, a news report. More strange things start to happen. He finds a clown doll and a key, his suitcase suddenly won't open, he ends up with a waitress (Deborah Kara Unger) in what at first seems a hospital, right before all the lights go out and all people present run away. The audience goes where Nicholas goes, and we get the feeling that it might not be a game after all.
Of course so does Nicholas. The weird events grow weirder and more dangerous. Telling you more about how it unfolds would spoil a great deal of fun, but I can assure you it is hard to guess things right. Douglas, on the screen in every scene, takes you with him from a man with everything in his control to one without anything in his control and does this very convincingly. The audience feels his despair and shares it, while uncovering the truth.
Fincher brings a lot of atmosphere to his films - 'Alien 3', 'Se7en', 'Fight Club', 'Panic Room', 'Zodiac' - and here he does the same thing. The dark images are fitted with an effective soundtrack from Howard Shore. It is amazing how less you think about it all while watching the film. The first big implausible thing is Nicholas participating in something like this, and many follow, but I only come up with them now. The director has made yet another interesting film, stylized, entertaining and, at least at the surface, quite intelligent.