David Fincher
The Game

Just two years earlier, "Seven" had shaken the Hollywood movie scene, bringing the name of David Fincher, a reclusive, unconventional, and still little-known director, to the forefront. Even his debut, "Alien 3" in the now distant 1992, had sent positive signals about one of the most promising filmmakers of the '90s. His third feature film is also a work with thrilling characteristics, but with original peculiarities: Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a wealthy financier to whom his brother Conrad (Sean Penn) decides to gift a membership to a mythical association called CRS, which organizes "games," something capable of changing people's lives...

Nicholas accepts his brother's gift: his life consists of offices, secretaries, consultations, solitary dinners. An existence that has become even more saddened due to a difficult divorce with his ex-wife. A shake-up is needed: this CRS will be the ultimate change, an event capable of altering the perception of reality. A series of inexplicable and terrifying events begin to chase each other, plunging Nicholas into panic, no longer aware of his mental health.

Interesting characteristics for Fincher's thriller, one of those that, thanks to the story and the author's narrative and directorial skills, manages to entertain the viewer until the last second. It is a psychological film, with a fast pace: the classic film with a completely unpredictable ending, the kind that leaves you shocked at the first viewing but that is forgotten over time. Yes, because the biggest flaw of "The Game" is its excessive focus on an ending that has the task of explaining everything that happens before, otherwise hardly understandable. In creating the tension preceding the final sequence, Fincher once again proves to be a master, and the most thrilling scenes are the most successful. Noteworthy is the sequence in which Nicholas finds himself in a house full of murals: an undercurrent of anxiety that Fincher perfectly renders, thanks also to the soundtrack by a giant like Howard Shore.

The other flaw of the film is linked to a typical characteristic of Fincher's cinema, from which only "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is saved. I'm talking about the lack of emotionality in the stories he tells, stories always perfectly brought to the big screen, but often lacking "emotional" leaps that could make them truly memorable. "The Game" is a thriller that follows this line, also highlighted by Fincher's latest works, "The Social Network" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

"The Game" (released in 1997) stands out as yet another excellent product by David Fincher, although it can be considered a "minor" work in the filmography of the Colorado-born director. Well-supported by two actors of undisputed caliber, the third film by the good David is an interesting piece by a man capable of interpreting "modern" cinema very well. Certainly, a good watch for fans of the genre.

Three and a half stars.