THE GAME
WenQing
See also Dr T. White's review of THE GAME
Directed by: David Fincher
Written by: John Brancato and Michael Ferris
Music by: Howard Shore
Director of Photography: Harris Savides
Produced by: Steve Golin and Cean Chaffin
Running Time: 128 min
Rating : ***
Production Co: Propaganda Films
Distributed by: Polygram Filmed Entertainment
Official Website: www.the-game.com
OF DAVID AND MICHAEL AND THIS GAME
About a year ago I was watching the MTV Movie Awards (which are hip and given no credit whatsoever) and David Fincher's SEVEN received the Best Film award. Fincher's words at the rostrum were simple and echoed his strong sense of style and vision... he said (liberally paraphrased from memory): "People have been saying over and over, this is an MTV movie, SEVEN is an MTV movie, I say, "what's wrong with an MTV movie?"" and left the stage to thunderous applause.I was pleased with that too. At 16 I watched ALIEN 3 which people contend nearly killed the series (it did wipe out Ripley), but I really liked it. It was dark, thrilling and a stylish change after Ridley Scott's brooding and slow ALIEN and James Cameron's stark and adrenaline-pumping ALIENS (subtitled : "This time it's war"). I enjoyed ALIEN 3 because its sweeping sense of vision created a full blown comprehension of the loneliness of space, and the fear of the alien. I actually felt Ripley's anguish and determination mixed into the scenery and the soundtrack by Eliot Goldenthal. When Ripley died destroying the queen alien within her, it was strangely affirming about the power and strength of the human spirit... to sacrifice oneself. I think too many people were upset about Sigourney Weaver's loss of hair. I also loved SEVEN, and so much has been said about the movie that I don't need to give it any more of my praises.
And that's why THE GAME was a disappointment. I think that Fincher's directing with Darius Khondji's cinematography (found in EVITA, CITY OF THE LOST CHILDREN) served to conjure a real and gripping world of apathy in SEVEN, but in THE GAME, the whole vision seemed to dim in favour of some commerical attempt at the mainstream. Maybe I had a hang-up about Fincher's style and was unready to accept anything outside ALIEN 3 and SEVEN, but THE GAME offered me a weak and bare storyline, a truckload of unbelievability, and the sense that Fincher was either copping out, or that his first two movies were tentative explorations that wouldn't be followed through.
THE GAME lacked also that tight hold that Fincher's first two movies provided. The narrative was uncompelling, the premise of a mere game as a thriller sounded unattractive, and the strength of the visuals were impaired by San Francisco... which I tell you is a vibrant and exciting city, filled with bright lights, and too few opportunities to exploit Fincher's distinctive style... though maybe it isn't his distinctive style at all. I had hoped Fincher would fuse the MTV vision with film-making and herald in a new era in movies. I respected his talent and his competence behind the camera, and I respected what I thought might be his selective choices of movies... deciding on films that would showcase his craft. His acceptance speech at the MTV Movie Awards seemed to point in that direction. But THE GAME swerved right out of that road straight into an almost cartoonish caricature of Michael Douglas (who I have something to say about also), as he was sinking in the taxi gibbering : "... it's only a game, only a game, only a game...", a cartoon that was not as entertaining as I would have hoped, not as gripping as I expected, and more disappointing than I would have felt about a director I liked in a long time. NATURAL BORN KILLERS made me kind of disappointed by Oliver Stone, but I think that was Juliette Lewis' fault.
Maybe I'm wrong to typecast Fincher this way. Maybe I should allow him room to make more movies and send his message out as to where he's going. Three films after all is not a large enough basis to judge, but I guess I felt a little cheated by the overflowing unbelievability of THE GAME... and like Dr. White mentioned (liberally paraphrased by myself) in his review of the movie... wouldn't you be extremely pissed with your brother if he set you up with such a stupid and extreme game?
Which brings us to Michael Douglas. And with him it's also a question of expectation. For me, his role in THE GAME didn't garner any of my sympathy at all. Thing is, I've seen Douglas in so many sleazoid movies that he became too little of a hero. I seriously enjoyed watching him in the ROMANCING THE STONE films (the sequel : THE JEWEL OF THE NILE). He was exciting, and invigorating as a leading man. He had that charisma that his father demonstrated in both 20 000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and SPARTACUS. But somehow, the late 1980s and 1990s weren't as good to the younger Douglas. While surely he bagged an Oscar for his "Greed is good" Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's WALL STREET, and he was vaguely heroic in BLACK RAIN... but I blame primarily his three sleazy sex movies for how unsympathetic a figure he has become on the screen. Adrian Lyne's FATAL ATTRACTION, Paul Verhoeven's BASIC INSTINCT and Barry Levinson's DISCLOSURE all made Douglas into some kind of sexual vampire (my honest opinion only). In fact the tabloids that offered scandals about Douglas' medical condition (described as an addiction to sex) didn't help his image out. In this season's IN & OUT with Kevin Kline directed by Frank Oz (Jim Henson's partner in the whole Muppet phenomenon), an awards ceremony was represented, and Glenn Close was giving away an award for Best Actor... Michael Douglas was portrayed to have been nominated (hasn't happened in a long time) for his role in PRIMARY URGES...a clear slap at Verhoeven's sex flick, and a clear slap at Douglas' recent films.
Somehow he carried that sleaze, some of it inherited from proclaiming that "greed is good" too, into THE GAME, and watching him became another exercise in passive reception. THE GAME didn't edge into being enjoyable, Michael Douglas' wasn't compelling, and most of all, I wasn't even on his side anymore. It didn't seem to matter what he did, how his life turned out or whether he was jumping from a building. All that coupled with THE GAME being dead ludicrous and excessive at times didn't get me anywhere near to liking THE GAME.
I wanted to leave the cinema saying, "THE GAME was good", but in the end I had nothing to say, except some comment on the weather (apologies to Jewel). Fincher didn't deliver what I hoped for, and Douglas was too far gone into his sleazy roles to elicit sympathy. In the end, THE GAME wasn't even worth playing.
The Flying Inkpot's Rating System
* Wait for the TV2 broadcast.
** A little creaky, but still better than staying at home with Gotcha!
*** Pretty good, bring a friend.
**** Amazing, potent stuff.
***** Perfection. See it twice.
Wen-Qing would like to wake up one morning knowing that he can cook for himself.
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