Released: September 12, 1997
Director: David Fincher
*****
After Se7en, director David Fincher helmed this film, following banker Nicholas Van Orten (Michael Douglas) as he plays a game given to him by his brother (Sean Penn) on his birthday. What type of game is it? No one will say, only that it will be the most exhilarating experience of Nicholas' life. As strange things begin to happen-a clown with a camera in his eye, for instance-Nicholas is nearly driven insane by not knowing what is real and what is part of the The Game.
This is a tight, methodical thriller featuring a superb leading performance by Douglas, twists and turns, half truths and outright lies...and ultimately collapses in on itself like a house of cards in the final moments. That's through no fault of the actors or the directing; the problem solely rests with the script. It's simply implausible to believe this company, Creative Recreational Services, employed lawyers, cops, assassins, cab drivers-among others-to stage an elaborate "game." The amount of deception and planning which needs to go on is beyond incredible. Cell phones don't work. Entire streets are cleared in San Francisco. Automatic weapons fire is not greeted with a heavy police presence. Had CRS been a government organization or other group out to get Nicholas, it would have been more palatable. But to know these games are played throughout the world over and over again without word getting out? I can't wrap my head around it.
And, to a certain extent, I don't think the characters completely buy this logic, either. It's the final scenes which have a different feel than the rest of the film. They're more jovial, laid back and happy than at any time previously. After all, Nicholas has been arrested, drugged, kidnapped to Mexico, had $600 million stolen, chased, nearly drowned, "shot" his brother and fallen through a massive skylight. Why doesn't this smart businessman want any other explanation other than it was for his own good? To teach him to lighten up? (To its credit, though, The Game doesn't feel the need to explain everything at the end with flashbacks and an all-knowing voiceover. Maybe this would have been one instance, though, where that technique should have been employed.)
Excepting the last five minutes or so, The Game is nearly pitch perfect in the way Se7en unsettled audiences. A creepy vibe without knowing what is around the next corner, a man we should hate but come to sympathize with...it just misses that last knock out punch. Which is a shame, because this could have been another classic like Fincher's previous work. As is, it's very good, just not classic.