Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8239 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-08
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 123 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's not quite as clever as it tries to be, but The Game does a tremendous job of presenting the story of a rigid control freak trapped in circumstances that are increasingly beyond his control. Michael Douglas plays a rich, divorced, and dreadful investment banker whose 48th birthday reminds him of his father's suicide at the same age. He's locked in the cage of his own misery until his rebellious younger brother (Sean Penn) presents him with a birthday invitation to play "The Game" (described as "an experiential Book of the Month Club")--a mysterious offering from a company called Consumer Recreation Services. Before he knows the game has even begun, Douglas is caught up in a series of unexplained events designed to strip him of his tenuous security and cast him into a maelstrom of chaos. How do you play a game that hasn't any rules? That's what Douglas has to figure out, and he can't always rely on his intelligence to form logic out of what's happening to him. Seemingly cast as the fall guy in a conspiracy thriller, he encounters a waitress (Deborah Unger) who may or may not be trustworthy, and nothing can be taken at face value in a world turned upside down. Douglas is great at conveying the sheer panic of his character's dilemma, and despite some lapses in credibility and an anticlimactic ending, The Game remains a thinking person's thriller that grabs and holds your attention. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
For the follow-up to his dark crime thriller Seven, director David Fincher decided to remain in a film noir vein. The result is The Game, a fast-paced cinematic roller-coaster ride that stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a joyless San Francisco investment banker who receives an unusual birthday present from his estranged younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn). The gift enrolls Nicholas in CRS (Consumer Recreation Services), a company that designs elaborate real-life games for each specific participant. As the game begins, the reluctant Nicholas becomes the victim of a series of pranks that quickly turn malicious and dangerous. Stripped of his finances and convinced that he can trust no one, Nicholas realises that this game may be an attempt to steal his fortune and leave him for dead. In a desperate bid to regain his life, Nicholas infiltrates CRS in order to uncover the secrets of the mysterious organisation. Douglas is perfect playing the uptight businessman Nicholas, cleverly riffing on his Oscar-winning performance as the cold-blooded Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. Fincher's Kafkaesque carnival show is an exercise in taut filmmaking that mischievously pulls a seemingly endless supply of rugs out from under both Nicholas and, even more impressive, the viewer.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable
This is a film worth watching. It can be classed in the thriller/scifi genre and will entertain anyone with an interest in twisting plot lines.

Michael Douglas stars as an investment banker. His brother, Sean Penn, shows up on his birthday and offers him a rather strange present. The story proceeds from there.

The film is defective in two principal ways. Firstly, the plot itself relies upon a number of totally implausible elements which harm the integrity of the story. And secondly, the film's supporting cast (Penn included) suffer from the fact that the director underdevelops (and in my opinion undervalues) their role in the storyline. Even Douglas' character is not explored in any depth: the viewer's impression of him is always somewhat two dimensional.

Nonetheless, for a thrilling and entertaining film with much drama and suspense, and some good action sequences, this picture rates as a success.

more than your average thriller
It goes without saying that David Fincher has unique visions when it comes to filmmaking, steering clear of any traditional styles. We saw this in "Se7en", "Fight Club", "Alien³", and even "Panic Room". Here, we have another interesting work from his cliché-free point of view.

The movie is organized and shot impeccably; the plot is imaginative and complicated as well as entertaining, pulling you immediately in. Sometimes the story drags on and next move seems visible, but this is not a big deal. The acting of Douglas, Penn, Unger and and even minor roles is satisfying.

Nicholas Van Orton, a workaholic investment banker, is such a hotshot that Michael Douglas was born to play: powerful, wealthy & brainy as well as cocky, mighty & haughty. Initially cool and reserved, then gradually less and less sure of himself, more and more perplexed when the things go awry. What a perfect character for Douglas as an actor...

Overwhelmed by his father's suicide and his divorce, he built a psychological & emotional cocoon around himself. But his life began changing entirely when he became enmeshed in an outstandingly elaborate real-life game, given as a birthday present by his brother Conrad. The game, arranged by a sinister outfit called CRS, is a bizzare one: no defined rules & no specified beginning or end. The aim of the game is to give Van Orton what he's lacking in real life. Actually, he starts out DEAD but the game brings something in him to life. After multitudes of twists, turns and near-death experiences arranged by CRS agents and allies, the cocoon is shattered and he turns into what he was made to be: a human being.

This is a film that will make you wish that you could play such a game in real life...

Get into The Game
A masterful thriller in the finest tradition that would have made a man like Hitchcock proud. For the rest of us, the reaction to this terrific piece of work should be nothing less than impressed.

Michael Douglas has seldom been better in a role tailor made for his talents, playing an emotionally stunted millionaire, far removed from the people around him and distant to the point of total social disconnection. His brother (Sean Penn) gives him an unusual birthday gift; a game that is supposed to make his life more `fun' but eventually turns into a waking nightmare. The ingenious screenplay engineers its twists with such breathless intelligence and wit that upon the first viewing it plays as a thriller. The next time around the film reveals itself as a character study of the most gripping kind.

Douglas' performance is remarkable and arguably his finest. His whole job in this movie is to make the transition from uptight and repressed investment banker to an unhinged and suicidal shell of a man, palpable. In the beginning he is almost too distant to be really empathetic, his steely demeanour giving us nothing to really like about the man. Plus he's rich, and who likes to feel sorry for a millionaire? His performance bridges the implausibility of plot logic so that his final 'test' at the climax comes from an emotionally honest place and has considerable impact (no pun intended) and resonance. The support given to him is also incredibly strong, having an on-form Sean Penn in his corner, ably backed by the alluring Deborah Kara Unger and a fantastic James Rebhorn.

David Fincher has been lauded over the years for his work on "Seven," and "Fight Club," yet this is by far his most elegant piece of work. The classy direction captures the isolation of a man lost in the maze of a psychologically torturous game, and never falters once in its pace and stylistic integrity. The film is beautiful to watch from sorrowful beginning right through to the moving end. How many thrillers do you know that can hold you in suspense and deliver an affecting emotional punch without trading up on either? Make no mistake, "The Game," is not simply visually exquisite and dramatically powerful, it also contains some of the more alarming and unexpected set-pieces you are likely to see in what essentially boils down to a thoughtful character piece.

However, don't let my superlatives put you off the idea of seeing or buying this movie. It delivers on its promise of surprises and twists, still in keeping with its themes while the end game is delivered with sound judgement. Howard Shore's haunting score adds the extra layers of depth and nuance to the story, highlighting the background and subtext with a captivatingly atmospheric piano solo in all the right places. Mood, atmosphere, tension, this under appreciated classic has the lot. If you stay with the plot and Douglas' protagonist, and suspend your disbelief to a certain degree, you may even find the ending quite moving if you appreciate the emotional complexity of the main character and Douglas' amazing performance of him.

In my opinion this is Fincher's finest work to date. A perfect puzzle box thriller on the first viewing and a deeply intelligent character study on repeat experiences. Do yourself a favour, if you haven't seen this film yet, set a night aside sometime soon and get into the game. It's a true classic that never gets old.