The Game (DVD)

...somewhat depressed as he approaches the age that his father committed suicide. His brother, the black sheep of the family, appears out of the woodwork to give him his birthday present, a unique tailor made experience provided by CRS (consumer recreation services). Sceptical, Van Orton signs up and the rollercoaster ride begins........

After a physical & a few psychological tests Van Orton signs a release form and the film kicks off, ...
...it has disappeared along with the contents of his bank account.

A man appears to fall down dead in front of him, a taxi locks him in and drives him erratically around the city, he's drugged and wakes up on the Mexican border.These are just a few of the bizarre occurrences that plague him in the next few days. Twist follows twist up until the final climactic scene - I cant say much more without giving away the story.

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Outline
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Nicholas van Orton is a millionaire banker, a loner and somewhat depressed as he approaches the age that his father committed suicide. His brother, the black sheep of the family, appears out of the woodwork to give him his birthday present, a unique tailor made experience provided by CRS (consumer recreation services). Sceptical, Van Orton signs up and the rollercoaster ride begins........

After a physical & a few psychological tests Van Orton signs a release form and the film kicks off, his game begins with what seems to be a series of slightly sinister pranks.Van Orton, being somewhat humourless decides he's has had enough and returns to CRS's office to tell them to stop only to find it has disappeared along with the contents of his bank account.

A man appears to fall down dead in front of him, a taxi locks him in and drives him erratically around the city, he's drugged and wakes up on the Mexican border.These are just a few of the bizarre occurrences that plague him in the next few days. Twist follows twist up until the final climactic scene - I cant say much more without giving away the story.

Opinions
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Released 2 years after seven (se7en), the Game was the 2nd film I had seen by director David Fincher and I wasn't disappointed. Its quite a dark film, like seven, lots of rainy night scenes & poorly lit rooms, even in Van Orton's luxury mansion. The first 20 minutes of the film is a little slow as you get to know Douglas' character, depressed, worried about his forthcoming 48th birthday you see flashbacks of him as a child watching his father commit suicide at the age of 48. he is successful but worried that is life is empty after his divorce. Quite basic scene setting so far, no surprises.

I think clowns are good for shock/creepy value! there, I have said it (see killer klowns from outer space if you don't believe me). The first sign that the game has started is a clown puppet in Van Orton's driveway laying in the position his father was in when he jumped to his death. To me this was the only spooky part of the film, the rest of the plot is more akin to conspiracy theory (Mel Gibson) or Spanish Prisoner(Mamet) but with a sprinkle of humour -

Van Orton loses a shoe climbing up a fire-escape - "There goes a thousand dollars" , "Your shoes cost a thousand dollars?" , "That one did."

Douglas is good, well, better than in Romancing the stone anyway, more like his Gordon Gecko character in wall street but with a slightly less icy heart. The idea of the game is that you learn things about yourself and as the film closes you realise that Van Orton has become a better person, he seems to have moved on from the death of his father and realised that life is for living. Not surprising really after the final twist, you will have to watch it to find out what (not quite a '6th sense' but I definitely didn't see it coming)

You will need to suspend your disbelief especially on a 2nd watch as there are a few plot holes but I have seen this around 5 times now and still enjoy it. We had a saying in our house when we watched films/TV shows like this "if it was me, I would just have to let them get me", Douglas seemed to have an inner strength to tap when thrown into an alien situation which wasn't really believable in a merchant bankers character,maybe I am wrong ( I expect to hear from dozens of wanna-be James Bond merchant bankers now!). Overall the acting is good but the characterisation tends to concentrate on Douglas' character more than anyone else.Similarly with the soundtrack, unmemorable except for white rabbit(Jefferson Airplane) which I think can make any scene haunting.

Overall, maybe one to rent rather than buy.

Tagline: The object of the game is to discover the object of.... The Game

Director: David Fincher (seven, Fight club)

Producers: Cean Chaffin & Steve Golin

Starring: Michael Douglas (Wonder boys, Falling down,Basic instinct), Sean Penn (Carlitos way, 21 Grams), Deborah Kara Unger (Stander, crash)

Runtime: 123minutes (2 hours 3 minutes)

Certificate: 15

Cinema Release: October 1997

DVD Release: March 1998

and for some reason the 10 year anniversary DVD is out May 2006.  

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