Fincher's Best! An absolute masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2001)

One first-class thriller, "The Game" manages to catch you and reel you in with surprise and suspense. POSSIBLE SPOILERS: A creative and suspenseful story and script centers around Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a millionaire/investment banker living it up in San Francisco. He's a jerk. Plain and simple. Really mean. He's had an unhappy child hood (he saw his father kill himself) and is basically falling apart and losing focus. Mr. Douglas pulls this part off gloriously, by the way. Sean Penn is his "interesting" brother who gives him a birthday present that sends Douglas into a spiral of madness.
A "Game" from a company called Consumer Recreation Services. What it does is makes a person's life more interesting by pulling off complicated tricks and pranks on its clients. After many crazy situations and embarrassments, Van Orton becomes a better person. And as it turns out, that's what "The Game" is there for. What is interesting about Fincher's film, more than its ingenius story, is its style and feel. It is hard to grasp how amazingly everything boils down. The music consists of a high-pitched piano playing repetitious tunes which is just what Douglas is going through. Ficher's trademark colorizations are apparent throughout, mesmerizing characters and developments are there, too. The acting is great, full of hellacious outbursts and uncontrollable action. The movie pulls also enough dramatic punch for almost 5 average dramas, and the payoff is brilliant. This was easily up there with "L.A Confidential" and "Titanic" as one of 1997's best. Much better than "Fight Club", this is the pinnacle of David Fincher's career with the amazing "Alien3" and the profound "Se7en". What a ride! What a film! What a masterpiece!
10/10