A game which isn't like the other ones

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2003)

Possible Spoilers...
Unlike the acclaimed "Seven" and "Fight Club", "the Game" is a movie by David Fincher which tends to be underrated. But I still think that it's as stunning as the two quoted movies. Maybe the beginning of the movie doesn't see any good coming because Fincher used an outline used until one can't take any more: a well-off and strong man (Michael Douglas) who hides a terrible secret. For his birthday, his brother (Sean Penn) offers him a game designed by a mysterious firm and he accepts. From this moment, the movie takes an unexpected shape. Indeed, strange things happen in Douglas' surround. Has the game begun? Is Douglas' life in danger?
The movie is so well made that you believe it's a real thriller. It means that not only is this game a beautiful "trompe l'oeil" but it also might be something else like for example a conspiracy against Michael Douglas that aims at making him fall. Moreover, can we really call it a game? There are no rules and Douglas almost died several times. Thankfully, the end will make him come back down to earth by revealing him the simple truth: it was just a game, nothing else and he won.
As it was the case with his previous movie, Fincher wrote a disturbing and diabolic screenplay in spite of a few unlikelinesses (at the end of the movie, Douglas tries to commit suicide by falling from a very high building). On another hand, his command of the directing isn't necessary to prove and sustain continuously the interest.
After "Seven", he persists and scores and if for your next birthday one of your close relatives offers you a similar game to the movie, guess what you'll do...