The Game Michael Douglas reprises in part his tough, award-winning Wall Street character in The Game's lead role as a successful businessman who decides one day to take part in a "game" his wayward brother (the excellent Sean Penn) invites him to play. The problem is, Douglas has no idea what the game is, or what its objectives are, or even when it does begin. He finds out quickly enough that there are no rules in this game.
The confident Gekko within Douglas disintegrates swiftly as his fragile self stumbles upon puzzle upon mayhem upon deceit. Suddenly the self-control which he relishes is wrested from him as he begins to perceive, McCarthy-like, the reality around him and its events as manifesting plausible connections to the game. Mirroring games in general, the adventure escalates with Douglas discovering how the puppetmasters behind the game are first, after his money, and then, after his life as well.
I followed the movie eagerly waiting for the next twist in the tale to emerge, the next pitfall Douglas would be lured into. The realisation at the end of the movie that it was a huge, expensive practical joke played on him by his brother for his birthday was an annoying dis-revelation, but it did not detract from the fun I had going through the show.
Granted, all movies manipulate the viewer's perspectives and affectations and involve them to some degree in the story. But The Game is singularly unique because it does so ironically. The movie itself is a linear game with a closed ending, and it ultimately plays us the viewers, not Michael Douglas. After a while, it is the movie-goer who is taken heart and soul into the game, pondering over what had happened and attempting to predict the course of events. To weave the various threads of the movie into a coherent whole and wring out some underlying significance - that's what movie-goers do. The recurrence of Douglas' anguish over his father's suicide when he was a child, and the impressionable reference to the Bible seemed to suggest some deeper moral that Penn is trying to get Douglas to perceive through the game, at the end of which one may argue it has been achieved. But I don't see any such thing; it is after all just a game.
Grade: B+
for other movie reviews, visit the Abode's movie archives at http://www.cyberway.com.sg/~perrin -- perrin / kah seng e-mail: perrin@cyberway.com.sg (at home) perrin_sssla@hotmail.com (at hotmail) My Homepages - check them out!!! Perrin's Wayside Abode http://www.cyberway.com.sg/~perrin Metahistory http://homer.pacific.net.sg/~malabar i was so much older then i'm younger than that now *dylan*
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