A Filmmaker's Review: 'The Game' (1997)

The Game (1997) is possibly one of the most famous thriller films in the history of cinema. It's about a sort of Scrooge character who has too much money and not enough to do with it; he receives a game for his birthday that takes place in real life. This game tests him not only in logic, but also almost kills him on several occasions. Whilst the game is going on, he notices more and more things are going wrong, wondering how to stop it - he entrusts someone who he probably shouldn't have trusted in the first place. Mistake after mistake, problem after problem, his bank account is drained and his log-ins are all hacked. He has no idea what the game wants. Let's explore my history with this movie...

My brother was the one who introduced me to this film. We watched it together many years ago and I thought that even though the premise was very good, the film itself was hugely predictable. I watched it once or twice over the years as it is one of those movies you watch for fun. Having seen it again very recently, I have tried to change my mind about the predictability of the film and yet, it is something I cannot get past. Unfortunately, that aspect of our review is here to stay even after so many years.

When I look at the film, I have to say that the best thing about it is Michael Douglas' acting skills. He always plays this sort of villainous rich character and, in this Gekko-esque role, he seems to do incredibly well yet again. I love the dialogue in the film as well because it doesn't give too much away. Be that as it may, the plot does it all on its own. The sheer reason for the loss of one mark was because the plot, from the beginning, is too predictable and even the dialogue couldn't save that aspect.

The next time I look at the film, I notice aspects of cinematography that are not only pretty significant when we look at the meaning of the film but are also signature moves of the director David Fincher (Fight Club). It is a brilliant feature of the film and is a real treat for Fincher fans. The cinematography can be either dark and gritty or it can be manipulative and incidental. This is something of a classic style for David Fincher and we see it so much in his films such as Fight Club and Zodiac.

The third thing we notice about the film is the score. The music score is very dark. It is something of a strange mixture between being a horror-esque atmosphere and suspense/mystery. There's something incredibly atmospheric about the score that makes up for the suspense where the story seems to slightly lag behind. Mostly, I just love the sound that it produces and the way it moves the story along. It is really a great effort for a thriller film.

Let's go over what we've covered then:

• Even though the dialogue and the acting is brilliant, the storyline lags behind being predictable and slightly boring in places. Some scenes are dragged out far more than required and there's almost something incredibly repetitive about the nature of the film in terms of plot
• The cinematography is a signature of David Fincher's. He puts his mark on it by the dark and gritty atmospheres and the long, manipulative shots. The darkness is where Fincher seems to work best and it is a great thing for his fans to see
• The music score really brings out the plot where the plot itself seems to lack on the point of predictability. The score allows the audience to experience the film a bit more than it already has been in the sense of the plot being repetitive

So all in all, where the plot lacks, everything else makes up for. The acting was brilliant, the dialogue was brilliant, the filmmaking was brilliant, the music was brilliant and most importantly so - Michael Douglas portrays the character perfectly. It is a brilliant movie, well worth a few watches to really get into it.