2.5/4  The Game Quick Review
Well-acted character study that seems like it's building up to something important, but never does; some strong moments, but ultimately it's pretty pointless. Final Grade: C+

4/5 Mind Over Matter and No Excuses
  by Strawgold (Wyoming)
Here is my take on an older movie that already has over 200 reviews - I have seen it twice because it is worthy of that acknowledgment:

Nicholas Van Orton lives a cold, sterile life, haunted by the suicide of his father which has indelibly marked him as a child who witnessed it - he can't get it out of his mind.

His birthday is coming up, another one of them he doesn't see any use for. Everyone wishes him well, from a distance, because that is what is required of anyone who knows him. His estranged little brother, Conrad, the exact opposite of himself in personality, but who also had personal issues he had to deal with, calls him, posing as an old friend, Seymore Butts - because he obviously thinks that's the only way the invitation will be accepted since his social standing has suffered in comparison with his successful, distant older brother - requesting his presence at dinner. This does draw a sort of smile from the cast iron face of Nicholas, and he sets it up through his secretary. A painful dinner conversation ensues, and the roguish little brother presents Nicholas with a gift - a gift certificate to play a reality game, although nothing is known or revealed about it. He thinks it's a bunch of hooey, but it's paid for, so he decides what the heck.

Things happen rapidly from there on and it is best to not reveal the plot, mainly because it's impossible. But there is a message if one wants to look for it through the fray.

My Summary: It was an action flick with an embedded message: Life is what you make it and you need to live it while it is in front of you rather than using crutches or casting blame for things you cannot control. That may be easier said than done but the concept is a truth. You don't need drugs, alcohol or psychiatrists because real life is a trip of it's own if you have the nerve to go for it - no excuses, and the devil take the hindmost. But you DO need to live it and enjoy it; you DO need love and your own people around you or the whole thing is for nothing. And sometimes that should be worthy of a self-analysis before it's too late.

5/5 One of my top 10 favorite movies
  by Natalie Lupton (Richmond, VA)
I really like Michael Douglas, & he doesn't disappoint in this suspense thriller. If you love movies that keep you on the edge of your seat this movie delivers!

1/5 The Movie Is Great..However...
  by Bluzfan1 (Illinois in the U.S.A.)
First of all, "The Game" is an awesome and exciting thriller of a movie. I highly recommend checking it out.

However..I purchased this movie for a hearing impaired relative of mine based on the fact that Amazon's Product Details description CLEARLY states..

Subtitles: English, Spanish.

There are in fact NO English subtitles, but only Spanish. And my relative now has a movie that is totally useless to her!

I think Amazon needs to print their product details based on correct facts so that other buyers won't make the same misinformed mistake.

5/5 Nicholas Van Orton in Acrylic ...
  by Steffan Piper (Palm Desert, CA)

Now apply heat to the canvas ...

Some of the best storytelling, historically, starts off with a quick preface of sorts that gives some foreshadow or insight into something that's going to unfold in front of you in a very insidious way. Most of the time, the majority of observers and readers never see any of it coming. And that's always the point of it, too.

In the case of `The Game', I think it's safe to say now that no one saw any of it coming and there was nothing predictable about what David Fincher was trying to pull off. Those that say something to the contrary are probably lying to save face. Those folks might also tell you that they saw Bruce Willis being dead in `The Six Sense', too. Don't get mad if I spoiled it for you with either film, it's been over a decade for both - you should've seen it.

So what kind of a mind would even think to envision something as dark as CRS and all that follows? Fincher pulls out all the stops and beats the viewer with a stick from the first moment to the very end. And to his credit and not detriment, either. Fascination with the Godon Gecko archetype is about as timely now as any other time in history. I can see this film making a comeback of sorts either on cable or as a touchstone, with perhaps even a follow-up production to come.

The question is: "What binds us together?" -- Money? Reputation? Class division? Gold-plated lifestyle? Family? Love? Death? Apathy? It's a very simple question that leads us down a dark road to a very complicated answer with Sean Penn screaming at us in frustration. It's almost like a dream, or a nightmare depending on how you see the world. The idea of tinkering with a person's framework of mortality and whittling away at it slowly is enough to send the most hardened minds into a state of panic. Dead parents, suicide, invasion of privacy, paranoia, blackmail, embezzlement and so on. Watching the master of controlled emotions have his most epiphanic meltdown may be one of the great silver screen performances of all time, just because the emotions are so well documented. Peel away everything, at your expense, and let's see what's left is really the knock-out blow.

Every time I watch this film with someone, I always catch folks wiping their eyes because of the ending. This kind of emotional response is normal with this film and be prepared for several of them throughout. Critics often say the ending is cheap and creates problems with the storyline, but they're just upset at being forced into an emotional state.

The film opened during dark days and was derailed during its scheduled release because of the death of Princess Diana. Anyone with a subscription to the Los Angeles Times archives can go back and read the articles that covered the demise of the film, which was well-documented.

The film slipped through the theatres almost unnoticed and then vanished. The buzz was minimal but it did leave a lasting impression. I would bet more folks saw it on cable than anywhere else. People then talked about the idea of the film as something very novel and very original. IMDb message boards are full of requests from viewers to list other films that are like it. The lists are short. But several people through the millennia since have noted that John Fowles book `The Magus' is the unofficial originator. Having read the book, I don't believe it is, but there are similarities for sure and it's a very worthy and forgotten read to say the least.

Masterpiece of film? Yeah. Overlooked? Yeah. A worthy sequel from Fincher? Hope so.

5/5 A story of personal transformation
  by W. Banker (southern pines, NC USA)
Reading some of the reviews here what seems missing is what I believe is the essential theme of this work --- personal transformation. Michael Douglas' character is trapped, or to be more precise stuck. He is stuck at a level of personal development (mean spirited, suspicious, cynical, isolated and alone --- he is an Investment Banker) in which he is intensely dissatisfied with himself and all around him. Though he does not realize it, he must move beyond his current "self" if he is to realize his full (though currently latent) potential as a human being. His brother - Sean Penn - realizes this and hence gives him a "game" for his birthday - since Penn the "black sheep" of the family had had a game given to him by some unnamed character and it had helped "awaken" him to a new self.

The game is the necessary transformative vehicle for Douglas' character which forces a reassessment of himself and his outlook on life --- but only through a complete breakdown and displacement of his current self and his connection with the world that he had made --- and had in turn now trapped him.

It is through the ensuing trauma and the culminating attempted suicide that allows him to emerge "reborn" and with a new outlook and new "self". Thus the climactic and happy ending with the well wishers at his birthday party in spite of the fact that a moment ago he had just "murdered" his brother and leapt to his "death".

What this movie portrays is the classical mythological journey of trial and trauma where the old self is destroyed and a new self emerges like a beautiful butterfly from an ugly caterpillar.