Watch it. It's weird.

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2004)

Michael Douglas is wealthy, lonely Nick Van Orton. A birthday gift from his estranged brother sends him to a mysterious organization that plays exciting, life altering "games" witht heir customers. But is that really what they do? How far do they go?
Anyways, having watched this film a second time I'm going to muse a little bit about it. Below is the biggest spoiler the movie can give, so don't read on unless you've seen it.
SPOILER!!

Watching the movie through a second time, from the perspective that the whole thing is part of the game is quite fun. There are a couple of spots that are extraordinarily improbable, but not impossible. The game CRS plays could be faked. There are parts that are open ended. If you've ever played a pen and paper RPG (bear with me here), or improvised on stage, you'd understand. There are situations and clues and things but I think the game was capable of branching at certain points. And if you notice Nick is always steered in one direction or another. Other reviews complain about how unlikely it is that Nick wouldn't kill himself. I dunno. The psych test they give him looks pretty complete. What's to say they would know what he does? Not so much exactly what he'd do at any given time, mind, but that they know his limits.
Movies that make you think are good.