“I am extremely fragile right now.”

Sandwiched between 1995’s Se7en and 1999’s Fight Club, David Fincher’s The Game is an underappreciated mystery of subverting expectations. The film sets up a Saw style puzzle that transmutes into a reverse heist and finally sticks the landing as a thrillingly unique experience. The Game is “Reverse Psychology: The Movie.” Throughout the film you begin to expect the unexpected and still be wrong in guessing what’s coming next. Reality for our protagonist, Nicholas (Michael Douglas), is constantly blurred, and the audience feels just as frustrated and confused attempting to predict what is real and what is “the game.” What feels on the surface like an action thriller is packed with psychological hypotheticals on how PTSD and trauma affect one’s life and actions.

Fincher began his film directing career strongly in the 1990s. After primarily directing music videos for a decade before, he debuted in film directing in perhaps the most iconic horror franchise of all time with Alien³. While this film wasn’t held to the same regard as those that came before it, Fincher’s next film, Se7en, would become a staple in crime cinema and solidify him as a respected auteur. If you watched The Game after Se7en, you would be surprised at how cleanly the film closes and by the lasting effects on the characters being positive.

The Game is an exciting watch because it’s constantly blurring the lines of reality and what is “the game.” “The game” is an elaborate scheme set up and played out by hundreds of actors to create chaos in Nicholas’ mundane life. Nicholas voluntarily signs up for this torment without knowing the extent of what he’s getting into. Throughout the film, Nicholas, along with the audience, is never quite sure who and what is a part of reality or “the game,” unable to trust anyone, even his brother. This leads to an interesting conversation on using a forced traumatic event to tackle past trauma and give perspective to one’s life. Nicholas was forced to confront the reasons for his father’s suicide and his worry that he will follow a similar fate by being plunged into a world where he didn’t have control for once. What is the morality in giving someone PTSD to stop them from destroying themselves and people they love? Does the end justify the means? Fincher seems to think so from the happy ending with Nicholas having a new and positive outlook on life even after going through so much horror.

One smaller aspect stuck out to me while watching this film: the concept of women’s power over men. Historically, men represent strength while women represent softer and more emotional traits. The main woman character in The Game, Christine (Deborah Kara Unger), is constantly and easily winning over Nicholas’ trust. This stems from when they met, where Nicholas observed her in a bra and exhibited a reserved, but obvious, sexual attraction to her. Even when Nicholas catches her red-handed as an actor in a prop house, she manages to convince him that she was coerced to do this and is on his side. While not the focus of the film, the idea that he cannot trust his own brother but easily trusts a random woman he just met is a fascinating example of the way women can exhibit manipulative power over men.

Many viewers’ issue with The Game seems to be disbelief in the possibility of the events. This is somewhat combated by a character saying, “Thank God you jumped, because if you didn’t, I was supposed to throw you off.” While clearly a joke, it suggests the actors had multiple in-case scenarios. While there are moments that seem too convenient to be true, for me this didn’t detract from the experience. Some events need to be unrealistically convenient to make the viewer think, “There’s no way this is a part of ‘the game.’”

Not discussed nearly as much as Fincher’s other films, The Game delivers a captivating mystery that will leave you flipping a coin to decide what is real and what is “the game.” You feel just as clueless and paranoid as Nicholas, and Michael Douglas does a wonderful job portraying this character. The film is stylistically a clear product of David Fincher and is a powerful entry in the crime thriller genre. The Game provides a thrilling and captivating experience that doesn’t need a “What’s in the box?” type tragedy to stick the landing.

★★★★✩ 4/5