James Fazzaro

I revisited David Fincher’s THE GAME over the weekend, and it has held up very nicely. I had seen it once in the theatres and two more times on laserdisc. In such rapid succession I grew rather cool to the film, as the surprise was now spent. Now nearly 15 years later, on Criterion Collection’s Bluray edition, it looks breathtaking. Harris Savides’ cinematography is gorgeous, and the framing, editing and pacing is truly expert.
A brief summary, for those who have no idea what I’m on about: Michael Douglas plays Nicholas Van Orton, a very wealthy and very cold investment banker who is shut off from humanity. His brother (Sean Penn) turns him onto a mysterious group called CRS, which hosts real life real time roleplay games on an intricate and colossal scale. Nicholas signs up, thinking he can cancel at any time, only to find that he is trapped in this deadly(?) game until he can discover what their true intentions are. He does reconnect with humanity, after a fashion.
That was rather clumsy and brief, I’ll tell ya! But the movie unfolds like a precision clockwork, and the screenplay keeps you guessing over what and where Mr. Van Orton will wind up next. And it’s gorgeously shot. And it’s David Fincher. So I’ll always be good for that!