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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 20, 2017 20:46:45 GMT
Because I hated everything about it.
LOL. The Game is one of two Fincher movies I dislike (though I far from hate it) and it has largely to do with how uninteresting and illogical the actual "game" is in the film. The ending even if looked at in a non-literal sense, just doesn't work at all for me and feels very anti-climactic. The movie pretty much gets less compelling and effective as it goes along. I agree about how illogical the "game" is--I was trying to put the pieces together moments after I saw it and by far coming up short because of the sheer illogic and silliness of the whole thing--but I think that's actually the point. As you wrote in your comments on Panic Room, the style is the substance here, as Fincher tries to replicate the trappings of a thriller but tell what is in essence a very different story, more akin to Dickens's A Christmas Carol than to even Panic Room (or the similar but inferior Flightplan). There's a fairly decent, if rather vulgar, article on it here. I think it's an emotionally draining picture, putting the viewer through a barrage of conflicting emotions that come along with the twists. And, if I may add, despite the illogic of the central plot, I still failed to predict many of those twists. As in Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner, I thought I was one step ahead of every twist, and I was actually two steps behind. (At the very least, such an effect shows a successful reading of viewer psychology that must be praised!) As I noted before, I completely failed to see the final twist, in which he survives the fall and lands (admittedly absurdly) into the party. I thought that bit was absolutely ingenious and avoided anti-climax (which I too felt at first) because the picture was never about the game actually being played on Douglas but rather the game occurring in his mind and heart. Also interesting to me is the question of game-playing, its connection to life and its innate amorality, an interest of mine that goes back to such mystery-thrillers as Sleuth, The Last of Sheila, Deathtrap, and many of Mamet's pictures, including House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner. "It's only a game!"--but to what extent? |
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Post by moviemouth on Apr 20, 2017 21:00:02 GMT
LOL. The Game is one of two Fincher movies I dislike (though I far from hate it) and it has largely to do with how uninteresting and illogical the actual "game" is in the film. The ending even if looked at in a non-literal sense, just doesn't work at all for me and feels very anti-climactic. The movie pretty much gets less compelling and effective as it goes along. I agree about how illogical the "game" is--I was trying to put the pieces together moments after I saw it and by far coming up short because of the sheer illogic and silliness of the whole thing--but I think that's actually the point. As you wrote in your comments on Panic Room, the style is the substance here, as Fincher tries to replicate the trappings of a thriller but tell what is in essence a very different story, more akin to Dickens's A Christmas Carol than to even Panic Room (or the similar but inferior Flightplan). There's a fairly decent, if rather vulgar, article on it here. I think it's an emotionally draining picture, putting the viewer through a barrage of conflicting emotions that come along with the twists. And, if I may add, despite the illogic of the central plot, I still failed to predict many of the twists. As I noted before, I completely failed to see the final twist, in which he survives the fall and lands (admittedly absurdly) into the party. I thought that bit was absolutely ingenious and avoided anti-climax (which I too felt at first) because the picture was never about the game actually being played on Douglas but rather the game occurring in his mind and heart. Also interesting to me is the question of game-playing, its connection to life and its innate amorality, an interest of mine that goes back to such mystery-thrillers as Sleuth, The Last of Sheila, Deathtrap, and many of Mamet's pictures, including House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner. "It's only a game!"--but to what extent? I wish I could say that I agree about The Game and that it could go up on a rewatch but I have watched the movie 3 times and it stays the same. Panic Room works because everything that's happening is thrilling and mostly makes sense. I also think his directing is far superior in Panic Room. As I said, with The Game I realized half way through that none of what is happening was all that interesting or well done to me. The movie is very good up until the actual game starts and then I just kind of stop caring. The events in the game just aren't very creative imo. Some stuff in Panic Room is obviously ridiculous but the story itself works entirely, whereas the story of The Game just doesn't. It certainly has it's moments and Douglas is good in it. I mean...I kind of like it.
Believe me, I wish I did like The Game.
because the picture was never about the game actually being played on Douglas but rather the game occurring in his mind and heart.
For me the movie only partly works on that level. A big problem for me is that if I am not interested in the character the movie is about, I will have a hard time being invested in what is happening in the film. The stuff about his past and his father and the influence your that has on his personality and his life and all that just fell flat for me. I just failed to care.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 20, 2017 21:04:21 GMT
Oh, no, moviemouth, I get it. There's no right or wrong here, of course. Just my opinion!  |
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