Think you're smart?? See THIS!

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 1999)

I would say, in all modesty, I am a reasonably intelligent filmgoer and yet I felt so completetly, uh...taken by this movie! The Game leads you to believe you've got it all figured out (and perhaps you do?) but then whips around 180 degrees and shows the opposite to be true.
If you're prone to finding yourself scared witless by creepy movies at home alone, rent this one with a friend in the daytime. The Game creates such an acute sense of paranoia it's enough to make anyone scratch their head. I enjoyed this movie thoroughly--until I really sat down and thought about it afterward. In the final moments, something...well, quite traumatic happens to Nicholas Van Orten (Michael Douglas's skillfully played character.) Less than a minute later he is expected to be fully jubilant and recovered. The people who did this to him are supposedly "good guys" in the end....and I really can't say any more without revealing the crucial points that make The Game so titulating. But another thing bothered me about the film (okay, besides the plausibility, which the viewer must fully suspend in order to hop aboard The Game.) If this is just a game, and clients like Nicholas shell out big bucks for the "entertainment," if you can call it such, why was Nick almost killed half a dozen times? Later it is revealed that the automatic guns were loaded solely with blanks. Alright, that makes sense, but what about the sinking taxicab scene? If Nick hadn't reacted quickly as he did and saved himself in a bizarre manner, he would've drowned. Such a caring company, eh??? The company CRS was only counting on Nicholas to play the game as expected and save himself in situations like this. True, the personality tests probably gave them a start...but darn it, he still could've drowned!
Alright, now that I worked that out of my system...this is really a fun movie-creepy, mind-boggling, and wholly remarkable--and the rooftop scene had me completely convinced until those doors opened and guess who was really there! The final scene left me with the question, so what's gonna happen next? is it truly over?
Then the credits rolled and I realized it was. I wanted more!