"The Game" is Game!!!

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2013)

Actor Michael Douglas is one of those rare Hollywood talents who doesn't make a fool o of himself on screen. An excellent judge of movie scripts, he either creates trends as he did with "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct," or catches them before they curdle as with "Romancing the Stone." In British director David Fincher's latest excursion into paranoia, "The Game," Douglas has found not only a choice role for himself but also a provocative thriller that is as cerebral as it is tantalizing. You won't have nightmares from watching "The Game," but you might think twice about that next alcoholic drink somebody else pours for you. Scenarists John Brancato and Michael Ferris have penned an imaginative but mischievous movie that lifts elements from the Yul Brynner chiller "Westworld" (1973) and the 1932 classic adventure epic "The Most Dangerous Game." Neither a science fiction opus nor a gruesome adventure, "The Game" is an enthralling melodrama that keeps you dangling for most of its lengthy running time. If you're one of those moviegoers who strives to stay a step ahead of the hero, "The Game" may frustrate you. Brancato and Ferris serve up a number of obvious clichÃ©s and rely on time-proved plot gimmicks. Nevertheless, they have integrated both into the action so seamlessly that you should think before you complain. In "The Game," characterization and motivation ably abet the vicissitudes of a deliberately murky and incredibly far-fetched story. No, "The Game" is not as aggravating as the Mel Gibson, sleight-of-hand thriller "Conspiracy Theory" with Julia Roberts.
Douglas plays Nicholas Van Orton. He is a strictly business oriented tycoon who would warm the cockles of Mr. Scrooge's heart. Divorced from his wife, he resides in a dark, tomb-like, palatial mansion with huge, wrought-iron gates. Van Orton's maid (the 1960s' bombshell Carroll Baker of "Baby Doll" fame) dutifully cooks and cleans for him, but their relationship is distant, too. He keeps everybody at arm's length, and his personality is as remote as it is regimented. Van Orton has no qualms about firing an employee on the spot. In sum, Van Orton combines the ruthless characteristics of Douglas' honcho in "Wall Street" with the awkward social graces of Harrison Ford's banker in "Sabrina." Van Orton is not a sympathetic character, so everything that befalls him in "The Game" constitutes a just comeuppance for the shoddy way that he has treated people.
That's part of the fun of "The Game." The Douglas protagonist is an out-and-out bastard. He deserves all the bad luck that he stumbles across, and we get to cheer every obstacle that he encounters because it is going to screw up the carefully preserved life that he has constructed for himself. You don't so much worry about how Van Orton effects his hair-raising escapes in "The Game" as you indulge in the way those cliffhangers challenge him. Van Orton's 48th birthday is creeping up, but he is in no mood to celebrate. In a series of superbly done flashbacks that resemble vintage Super-8 movies, Van Orton relives the suicide plunge that his equally remote father took on his own 48th birthday. Into Van Orton's musty, stale lif34 bursts his black sheep brother played with marvelous abandon by bad boy Sean Penn. It is an amazing coup of casting that works because Conrad is so much Nicholas' opposite in both personality and temperament. Conrad gate-crashes Nicholas' private club and breaks the rules about smoking because his older brother is so highly placed. He presents Nicholas with a belated birthday present. It's a gift certificate from an obscure agency called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS).
Conrad assures Nicholas that "the game" will put the fun back into his humdrum existence. At first, Van Orton is reluctant to contact CRS. Curiosity gets the better of him. When he goes in for an interview, he finds the CRS people are neither deferential nor accommodating. They require him to fill out time-consuming questionnaires and perform various physical skills tests. When they're finished with these grueling tests, they assure him that they'll call him about his evaluation. Miffed at their callous treatment, Nicholas stalks out. Of course, Nicholas qualifies to play the game. What exactly is the game? "The Game" is one of those movies that you only really get to see once. The filmmakers are depending on your own curiosity as much as your frustration with the lengthy setup for the story.
Almost an hour into "The Game," you still aren't totally sure what is happening. It's as if the filmmakers are stalking their audience, delaying their revelations as long as they can to get the most out of both the plot and the audience. If you have the patience for this complicated build-up, you'll be rewarded. If you see "The Game" a second time, you'll appreciate that long build-up because you'll see it coming and its multiple surprises won't catch you as off-guard like they may on first viewing. While credit must be given to both the calculated efforts of writers Brancato and Ferris, director David Fincher probably deserves the lion's share of the success of "The Game." A former music video direction, Finch broke into the movies with "Alien 3" back in 1992.
The performances contribute to the success of "The Game," too. Douglas is perfectly cast as Nicholas Van Orton, and Peen's intermittent appearances are cleverly timed. Deborah Kara Unger of Crash" fame looks as if she could be the next Sharon Stone as the sexy siren who lures Van Orton to his destruction. "The Game" has a haunting quality, and you can't be sure whether the filmmakers are out to scare you or have a joke at your expense. As they used to say in the vintage Patrick McGoohan sci-fi television show "The Prisoner" to say anything more about "The Game" would be "telling."