TW: Suicide
THRILL SCALE 1-10
7.5
HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?
Yes, a few times
BEST SEQUENCE
I think the ending is tremendously effective, but the runaway cab scene might be the most thrilling
BEST LINE
"This is your game, Nicholas, and welcome to it."
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE
76%
ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS
"The ending could use a little work but this is otherwise another sterling example of David Fincher's iron grip on atmosphere and storytelling. "
IMDB SYNOPSIS
"After a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him."
THOUGHTS
- If you haven't seen The Game yet, stop reading this and go watch it. It's a good movie, you'll like it. And it's not overly scary or violent if you're squeamish about such things. Last warning, though, this will be a spoiler-heavy review
- Because I think the ending is so good, and for me, it absolutely works. Sure, you could pick away at the logic of it if you were so inclined. Sure, it strains credulity that the game company (CRS) could predict everything so accurately. But if you allow yourself to buy into it, I think it's a wonderful twist ending. Personally, I can suspend my disbelief because the tests that Nicholas (Michael Douglas) goes through in preparation for the game are depicted in such a scientifically mystical way, and they're shown to be so thorough and intensive, that my imagination doesn't have to stretch very far to believe what they were able to predict, including, yes, even the exact spot from which Nicholas would jump. What can I say, I'm an easy mark for movies like this
- I first saw this movie in high school, I believe, if not a little younger. I don't really remember how I responded to it when I first saw it. What's interesting about rewatching it, knowing how it ends, is how it changes the way we view the action on screen. Aside from watching how Nicholas responds to the situations he finds himself in, we also watch with an eye for how CRS is actually pulling all of this off. I also kept thinking about what the twist ending means for the movie's thrills. Is the movie still thrilling if, ultimately, Nicholas was never in any real danger, as it's explained at the end? I think it is. A locked cab barreling into the water is scary even if we eventually learn that there were divers standing by to rescue Nicholas. More importantly, it was still real for him, and since we're experiencing the movie along with the character, I think that's what counts
- Another fun little activity is watching carefully to see who you can recognize at Nicholas's party. For example, the man who's in charge of the invoice at the end was the same man in the airport who indicated to Nicholas that his pen was leaking
- Some other favourite scenes: the beginning of the game, when the newscaster speaks directly to Nicholas from the TV; the extremely creepy clown in the driveway (what is this, Poltergeist?!); the blacklight vandalism scene; and really, many others
- I think it's very effective how we're told that Nicholas's father committed suicide. The old-timey, grainy film has a very creepy quality to it, and I like that it's never actually spoken out loud by any of the characters in the movie. Speaking of Nicholas's father, watching it this time I was thinking gee, that man looks a lot like Michael Douglas, is that Kirk Douglas? Only to then look it up and realize, get ready to have your minds blown, Nicholas's father was played by Charles Martinet! Better known as THE VOICE OF MARIO since 1992! Let's all just be thankful he didn't get any dialogue in this movie as that would be incredibly unsettling
- Oh yeah, one more thing. I just lost
Up next: Slight change of plans. In the original poll we had Quarantine, the American movie from 2008, but I've seen it before so I'm actually going to go with REC, the Spanish 2007 original
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