A cinematic abomination, shamelessly manipulative

Rating: 1/10 (26 March 1999)

The worst aspect of this film is how the creators don't care to follow through on their convictions. They are clearly nihilistic. Instead of showing this, they play on the desire of the audience members for something coherent. I left the theater (and my viewing of snippets when I run across it in channel surfing) with a feeling of physical violation, of having had depraved intellects smeared across my brain.
Too harsh? I don't think so. One is expected to empathize with Michael Douglas's character, in trying to understand that all of his arbitrary injuries are in fact aspects of an incredibly complex practical joke. (No, I'm not going to dignify it with the noun "game.") Yet one is expected, simultaneously, to believe that some malign organization is genuinely trying to destroy him.
The problem with this tension is that if Douglas's free will is ever asserted, the plot (such as it is) instantly collapses. He can't be too smart. He can't think outside a limited set of boxes. He can't match up facts in any way that shows insight -- or else the joke-makers will not be successful in anticipating what he is doing. In short, the story depends on Douglas's character being precisely as vapid as everybody expects of him at his worst, and that he won't give up until they think it best for him to give up.
If Douglas, here, believes the premise of a malign power, he would be more likely to slip up -- with a deadly result for himself or someone else -- out of sheer overconcentration on his situation. Too much stress, y'know? You aren't at your most perceptive. Especially with a gun in your pocket. The plot counts upon his virtues, as dullard as they are, while at the same time undercutting all of them.
The final twist involves the apparent death of someone truly close to him, at his own hand. Yet did it happen? And is such a shock something to be used to deprive -any- human being of personal dignity? So much so that, shortly afterwards, he's expected to recover and be mindlessly festive? I found this to be an instance of psychological torture. If I wanted this, I'd watch the war in Yugoslavia, and CNN has nearly zero marginal cost.
That brilliant cinematography, adept character acting (on occasion), and Douglas's dogged persistence are used all create no excuse for such incoherent manipulation. All we have is a canker on the human spirit.
This is a nihilistic cesspool. Don't waste your money, not even on a 99-cent bargain rental night. If you possess any human sensibilities, you'll berate yourself later... when it isn't giving you nightmares.