New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

I am always up for a good chase, and The Game is nonstop escaping. Douglas is perfectly cast, being able to switch from serious to spry, cold to coddling, and content to cross in the matter of seconds. This is his movie and the audience is experiencing it completely through his eyes every step of the way.

Penn is fairly one-note as the younger brother you wish you never had, but his role is less substantial than the trailers would lead you to believe.

Fincher, hot off Se7en, directs the film with more style than needed, elevating The Game from a child’s play affair to something more dark and interesting. With exciting action sequences, Fincher still allows the audience to catch their breath, even though Douglas’s character never has a chance. Fincher is one of my favorite directors, not only for his dark yet epic tones, but also for the fact that he instills faith in his viewers to be able to follow along without their hands being held. However, he might’ve taken that faith for granted as The Game gets so twisted within itself that I even wonder if Fincher knows what it all means.

Screenwriting team Brancato and Ferris write The Game with an unusual amount of back-story for this type of genre film; however, when it devolves into its B-movie antics, it just seems needless. Previously scripting The Net (a film I hate even though Sandra Bullock tries her best to save it), The Game is not all that different, just substituting the crazy computer antics for an evil, arcane corporation and adding dozens of more twists and red herrings.

The problem with The Game is that they do not know where to stop. At a limit-pushing 129-minute runtime, I feel as if they had enough material to double it, instead of editing down.

Brancato-Ferris later went on to write the middling Terminator 3 and the McG reboot, the vastly underrated Surrogates, and the dreadful Catwoman.

While The Game is a past memory, its concept is most definitely with us. Playing a game bigger than yourself has turned into a popular tourist attraction in major cities as a way to see famous sites in an unusual in just the same amount of time as a viewing of The Game. Ashton Kutcher produced the short-lived reality TV series Game Show in My Head that worked off of a similar concept.

Ranked fresh on Rottentomatoes.com at 70%, critics liked the film for its darker sensibilities; however, there was an air of discontent considering the film Fincher did before The Game was the Oscar-nominated Se7en. But the real disappointment came at the box office.

Made for anywhere between the rumored $50 million - 65 million, The Game opened Friday, September 12, 1997 to the tune of $14.4 million ($24.9 million today). However, audiences weren’t willing to play Fincher’s twisted mind games like in Se7en. In the end, The Game cashed out with $48.3 million ($83.9 million adjusted) – a middle of the road number for a Fincher.

If you are willing to give in, The Game is a thriller taut with suspense, but loose on plot. Douglas delivers a grade-A performance, and the film's own gumption makes the unbelievable car crashes and bullet fights seem sort of realistic in their own strange way. While the payoff is not big enough for the amount you invest into the film, the ending is still less frustrating than a game of Monopoly.

Verdict: With Us

7 out of 10

Continued:       1       2