Fincher's Tremendous Knack for Suspense is Betrayed by a Cadre of Loose Screws

Rating: 6/10 (23 August 2012)

Michael Douglas accepts an invitation to join a mysterious exclusive "recreation activity" at the insistence of his loser brother, and is then thoroughly terrorized by the game makers. It's a mile-a-minute barrel ride over the edge of a waterfall, with the audience left in the dark right alongside the protagonist. Young director David Fincher plays up the suspense gorgeously, but isn't quite able to compensate for a few inherent flaws with the premise. First and foremost is Douglas's leading part, a thoroughly unlikeable one-percenter who's such a Scrooge it's impossible to grow too invested in his fate. In a way it's cathartic to see him tormented by such a brutal series of twists and turns, especially in the afterglow of the Wall Street bailout, but the film goes out of its way to paint him as a sort of tragic hero. The plot's reckless yanks on the steering wheel, too, aren't all they're cracked up to be. Those constant swerves provide a great series of unpredictable thrills, but ultimately ring hollow when our suspension of disbelief is nudged too far beyond the coincidental. The entire closing sequence, in particular, is just so dependent on things happening in precisely the right place, at precisely the right time, in precisely the right way, that it left me questioning the validity of everything that had come before. A nice effort, and a strong-legged concept, that falls short in too many important areas to deserve high marks.