The Game - DVD Review

'if you take the moody slow-build tension of Zodiac, add in Seven’s shocks and Fight Club’s surrealism then you’re getting somewhere near'

Having sung the praises of David Fincher’s The Game in my previous review, I thought it was only fair to do it justice and give it the full treatment.

While not ostensibiliy a full on horror movie, as P2 claims to be, there are strong horror elements in this tale of upper-class boredom, the meeting of future and past, fate and paranoia.

Of course this isn’t exactly how it is described on the tin (actually; ‘players wanted’ is how it is described on the tin) and the plot basically follows Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) as he tries to decide if he is or isn’t inside a real-life ‘game experience’ purchased for him by his brother (Sean Penn).

As the plot thickens Van Orton’s paranoia grows to a point where he has no idea who is or isn’t part of the game, nor in what direction those people are trying to push him. The set-ups, tricks and risks the perpetrators of the game take become increasingly grand and volatile and both the Van Orton’s begin to question the motives behind the mysterious CRS.

What starts of as a relatively simple life piece becomes a grippingly in-depth character study of Van Orton to the point where we know him so well we can almost predict his next actions.

To go any further into the film would be tantamount to revealing the end of Seven or Fight Club. If you’ve seen these two then you know what to expect from Fincher and if you take the moody slow-build tension of Zodiac, add in Seven’s shocks and Fight Club’s surrealism then you’re getting somewhere near the mood, tone, feel and plot of The Game.

When I got the box I had my doubts (was I really going to sit there and watch a film about someone playing a game?) but have faith in the twisted magic of Fincher and you’ll be rewarded by a really gripping thriller – have you got what it takes to play the game? (surely that would have been a better tagline!)