A Satisfying Mind Game.

Rating: 10/10 (25 April 2020)

David Fincher's first movie was the polarized "Alien 3." All he needed to do to make an acclaimed film was make a psychological thriller and his career was set into motion. Fincher has outdone himself since, but for most other directors this would be their peak.
At the centre of the piece is Nicholas Van Orton, played to the usual max by Michael Douglas. He lives the lap of luxury but is very lonely. Having no friends and only one family member (Sean Penn), none of Nick's millions of dollars has made him happy. The suicide of his father is also engraved in his memory.
Nick's brother, Conrad, seems to be the only person in the world that cares about him. For his older brother's birthday, Conrad summons Nick to participate in a "game." Nick is very reluctant but goes along with it anyway. Ready to be given instructions and get the whole thing over with, Nick's uneventful life soon turns into one near disaster moment after another. He meets a girl named Christine (Unger) who helps him survive. She may or may not be part of this game.
I must talk about the twist because I think that's what makes the movie so good. Nick almost getting into deadly accidents and all the scares are just a series of setups by Conrad so that Nick can have fun. Conrad had to get almost the entire town of San Fransisco to play along and fool his brother. Almost anyone else would be pissed that all these near-death situations were just pranks. But Nick is just happy to be alive. He is also flattered that all of these strangers would go through so much just so that he would have a "good time." I guess that's possible, but this almost seems to be an adult fable.
Nonstop excitement and no predictability make the climax all-the-more rewarding.
4/4