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FILM REVIEWS

Review of The Game
By CHRISTOPHER NULL
Wallman's Film & Sci-Fi Journal


Any more of that brooding atmosphere and I might have to strangle myself. I don't know how Michael Douglas does it, much less manage to keep himself alive and kicking through two hours of torment, all of which may or may not be a fantasy "game" his brother (Sean Penn) has enrolled him in. Douglas plays an uber-rich tycoon who has everything he could want and is bored to tears with all of it. When kid brother promises the game will fill in what's lacking in his life, Mikie finds himself drawn to it, and a labyrinthine all-too-realistic game of murder, deceit, and betrayal begins. Set in my newly adopted home of San Francisco, I find this city full enough of intrigue even without machine gun-toting assassins and attack dogs chasing me around back alleys. And I can't imagine what I'd do if a cabbie drove us into San Francisco Bay... but I suppose that's why you have to watch the movie. As a thriller, THE GAME is the work of a craftsman (SEVEN director David Fincher), but be warned: don't even *try* to think about the plot lest it break down before your very eyes. Instead, just think to yourself, "don't ever let this happen to me." You'll thank me later.

After KULL and SHE'S SO LOVELY my next boner came when I sat through IN&OUT, knowing that there was a sneak preview for THE GAME one theater over.

Speaking of IN&OUT, I recently came out of the closet to some of my closest friends and family. One day I realized something about myself and I couldn't keep it a secret anymore:

I LOOOVE MICHAEL DOUGLAS MOVIES *sigh* there, I said it.

I never thought of him as anything special before but I noticed how he starred in all of these movies I love to watch. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend all the movies are "cinematic marvels", but most of them are definitely visceral thrill rides:

Michael Douglas vs. Wall Street
Michael Douglas vs. crazed mistress, Glenn Close
Michael Douglas vs. wife, Kathleen Turner
Michael Douglas vs. murderous bisexual, Sharon Stone
Michael Douglas vs. Los Angeles
Michael Douglas vs. oversexed co-worker, Demi Moore
Michael Douglas vs. two man-eating lions


Each of them I can watch over and over, and I think that Michael Douglas being in them all is actually more than coincidence. Like his father Kirk Douglas did in his day, Michael Douglas represents the archetypical "MAN"of his generation. Of course, today our idea of a "MAN" is different...perhaps more realized. Certainly more flawed and intricately defined.

Michael Douglas, who is not a lantern jawed, rock hard He-man has the perfect physique to play the average man. His characters are usually of just above average intelligence, full of a sense of self and ,to different degrees, their own maleness...And invariably at some point in the movie they have their weaknesses shoved in their face. Good or bad, his are characters that every man can identify with on some level. When he gets into trouble he brings you there with him. Nobody was more excited than me to find out that he had a new movie coming out, THE GAME, that was directed by the director of SEVEN.

THE GAME stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, who as a child watched his father commit suicide and from that moment took on the responsibilities of head of the house. Nicholas has grown into a very, very rich and very unhappy man. On his 58th birthday (the same age his father was when he jumped off the roof) his ne'er-do-well brother (Sean Penn) gives him a ticket to play the "the game" and tells him very cryptically how it will "open his eyes". Though skeptical, Nicholas eventually takes the all day psychiatric test that qualifies him for the game. The game begins without notice and starts Nicholas off with mind games, scavenger hunts and wild goose chases. It quickly escalates into blackmail, attempts on his life, draining his entire fortune and leaving him for dead in Mexico...and something more sinister. The big question is if it's all part of the game or is Nicholas the latest victim of an organization of inconceivable evil?

Douglas does a great job of making Nicholas Van Orton a very rude millionaire with his entire past bottled up inside him...whom the average man can still identify with. In fact, the first 1/4 where we really get to know his character are the best moments in the film.

I figure a thriller has the first 1/4 to 1/3 of its running time to slowly setup it's story and if the pace doesn't pick up after that it loses it's audience. Unfortunately, THE GAME was not successful at this and it plods along at the same gait through the entire film. If I were to recount everything that happened in THE GAME to you it would sound like the most exciting movie you'd seen in a long time. That's because my recap would glance over all of the many scenes that dragged or action that was less than engaging.

I have to lay the blame at the feet of the director, David Fincher. You have to figure that SEVEN started out with just the greatest script in the world or that he just really lucked up on that one. What I didn't realize before was that this is the same guy who directed ALIEN3 (the one that almost killed the franchise).

Another big problem with THE GAME is that it relied too heavily on deus ex machina...

....Okay, you got me. I was just being pretentious. I can't even pronounce "Deus ex machina", let alone tell you what it means. Just remember back to the beginning of the movie SPEED:

After a bus blows up right by him, Keanu Reeves answers a close by ringing pay phone. It's Dennis Hopper calling to say that he blew up that bus and he's rigged another bus to blow that he'll detonate unless his demands are met.

Now, WHAT IF it a were a more real world scenario:

The first bus blows up and because he's distracted (possibly by his own ringing and bleeding eardrums) Keanu doesn't answer the phone. Now, since "the hand of God" doesn't step in, Hopper can't demand his money and the second bus blows up without anybody knowing why. Movie's over. Roll credits. Bring up th house lights.

THE GAME is chock full of instances like that. Like a Mission Impossible it all depends on everything lining up just right but here there's just so much and it's plausibility all hinges on a "comprehensive" psychiatric test and an incalculable amount of cash (that they smartly chose not to reveal). Still, with a faster pace or a good director it could've easily been convincing.

Sadly, when I put together my Ultimate M.D. Collection: WALL STREET, FATAL ATTRACTION, WAR OF THE ROSES, BASIC INSTINCT, FALLING DOWN, DISCLOSURE, THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS - THE GAME will not be apart of it.







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