Great Film, Buy it Don't Rent It

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 2010)

I suppose "The Game" was the first film I ever saw that had a twist ending that was actually twisted. "The Sixth Sense" was a great movie, sure, but the ending wasn't twisted. A shocker, yes, but not twisted. Even the killer from "Se7en", Fincher's masterpiece, wasn't a twist ending. A twist, yes, a surprise, hell yes, but a twist ending? No.
With Michael Douglas and Sean Penn headlining a cast that also includes James Rebhorn and Armin Muehler Stahl, you wouldn't expect a twist at all. No, with these actors you'd probably expect maybe a nice little thriller or maybe even a comedy of sorts, and that's why "The Game" is such a masterful film. These actors are so completely taken out of their element it's scary.
Douglas is Nicolas Van Orton, a rich man who's unhappiness in life has been noticed by his brother, the care-free, James Dean-ish Conrad Van Orton. Conrad gives an unthanking Nicolas a card for CRS, a company that will make Nicolas' life better. And so begins a long, perilous, and unimaginably entertaining psycholgical mind game where Nicolas' life doesn't just turn upside down, it turns inside out.
I loved "Se7en", so I had high hopes for "The Game" and this film didn't at all disappoint. In fact it raised the bar so much that I've made a point to see every Fincher film since. (Fight Club and Zodiac are also fantastic films) The camera-work is awesome, with each scene having and holding a growing sense of claustrophobia.
The acting is just superb. I don't think Michael Douglas is able to turn in a bad role. He's just as good in this as he was in "Wall Street", and will be when "Wall Street 2" comes out this month. Penn is also very good, showing his stripes as the free-wheeling brother. Deborah Unger is beautiful and underrated as an actress, I wish she'd be in more movies like this. Stahl and Rebhorn show why they are also some of Hollywood's most underrated blood.
To sum it up, "FANTASTIC MOVIE." The acting, the direction, the cinematography, the film as a whole, awesome. The ending absolutely blew me away. Don't just rent this one, buy it, because you'll want to watch it again and again.