The Game (1997 film): Difference between revisions

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The Game tells the story of a wealthy businessman who is gifted with prepaid access to a strange game. The game integrates in strange ways with his life. As the lines between the businessman's real life and the game become more and more uncertain there are hints of a larger conspiracy.

The game in the movie can be viewed as sort of Alternate Reality Game with a large Live action role-playing game component. Participants in real life versions of alternate reality games and live action role-playing games find the movie interesting and a source of inspiration for this reason.

Cast

Michael Douglas - Nicholas Van Orton
Sean Penn - Conrad Van Orton
Deborah Unger - Christine (as Deborah Kara Unger)
James Rebhorn - Jim Feingold
Peter Donat - Samuel Sutherland
Carroll Baker - Ilsa
Anna Katerina - Elizabeth (as Anna Katarina)
Armin Mueller-Stahl - Anson Baer
Charles Martinet - Nicholas' Father
Scott Hunter McGuire - Young Nicholas
Florentine Mocanu - Nicholas' Mother
Elizabeth Dennehy - Maria
Caroline Barclay - Maggie
Daniel Schorr - Himself
John Aprea - Power Executive

Plot Summary

Template:Spoiler

Nicholas Van Orton is a successful businessman, but his success has meant that he has sacrificed his family life; he is now divorced and is estranged from his children. On his fortieth birthday, his younger brother Conrad presents Nicholas with an unusual gift: a prepaid game. The nature of the game is unclear at first, but it appears to be a sort of Live action role-playing game that integrates directly into the player's real life. After taking a full day test and physical, Nicholas is informed that the game company cannot serve him. Quickly Nicholas discovers that this is false and the game has begun. The game focusses on a key moment of Nicholas's life when, as a child, he witnessed his father committing suicide by leaping off a tall building; significantly Nicholas' father took his life on his fortieth birthday -- the same age Nicholas is now.

As the movie progresses evidence mounts that the game is actually an elaborate scheme. Repeated attempts are made on Nicholas's life. While Nicholas is disoriented, the payroll accounts he controls have been drained. Feeling estranged from his friends and lawyer, eventually Nicholas becomes desperate, recovers a hidden gun from his home, and heads directly into the recently-moved offices of the game company. He takes one of the staff hostage and demands answers. The staffer at first appears to side with Nicholas and seems surprised by the gun, revealing that the game company thought they had replaced any firearms Nicholas could access with fakes. After a series of narrow escapes, The movie comes to a climax on the roof of the game company's skyscraper. A jumpy Nicholas again demands answers. A door opens, surprising Nicholas and he fires without looking, only to reveal that he has shot his brother holding a surprise birthday cake. Stricken with remorse, Nicholas leaps off the skyscraper and crashes through a glass ceiling, but he lands safely in an airbag. There he finds his family and friends awaiting his arrival and the game is revealed to have just been a game. The accounts have not been drained, the gun was replaced with one firing blanks, his brother is alive.

A real life version of this game called Mr Gamer exists.

The movie was filmed primarily in San Francisco, including Hotel Nikko and the Filoli Gardens and House (Redwood City).

External links

Reviews

http://www.nyrock.com/movies/1997/the_game.asp
http://users.aol.com/aleong1631/game.html
http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/game.html
http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/moviereview/item_854.html
http://www.well.com/user/argv/reviews/the-game.html

More information

Game, The (1997) at IMDb

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 {{spoiler}}
-Nicholas Van Orton is a successful businessman.  His brother Conrad presents Nicholas with an unusual gift: a prepaid game.  The nature of the game is unclear at first, but it appears to be a sort of [[Live action role-playing game]] that integrates directly into the player's real life.  After taking a full day test and physical, Nicholas is informed that the game company cannot serve him.  Quickly Nicholas discovers that this is false and the game has begun.  The game integrates a key moment of Nicholas's life: watching his father commit suicide by leaping off a tall building.  As the movie progresses evidence mounts that the game is actually an elaborate scheme.  Repeated attempts are made on Nicholas's life. While Nicholas is disoriented the payroll accounts he controls have been drained.  Feeling estranged from his friends and lawyer, eventually Nicholas becomes desperate, recovers a hidden gun from his home, and heads directly into the recently moved offices of the game company.  He takes one of the staff members hostage and demands answers.  The staff members he interacts with are surprised by the gun; they thought they had replaced any firearms Nicholas could access.  The movie comes to a climax on the roof of the game company's skyscraper.  A jumpy Nicholas again demands answers.  A door opens, surprising Nicholas and he fires without looking, only to reveal that he has shot his brother holding a surprise birthday cake.   Nicholas leaps off the skyscraper, crashes through a glass ceiling, and lands safely in an airbag.  There Nicholas's friends wait his arrival and the game is revealed to have just been a game.  The accounts have not been drained, the gun was replaced with one firing blanks, his brother is alive.
+Nicholas Van Orton is a successful businessman, but his success has meant that he has sacrificed his family life; he is now divorced and is estranged from his children. On his fortieth birthday, his younger brother Conrad presents Nicholas with an unusual gift: a prepaid game.  The nature of the game is unclear at first, but it appears to be a sort of [[Live action role-playing game]] that integrates directly into the player's real life.  After taking a full day test and physical, Nicholas is informed that the game company cannot serve him.  Quickly Nicholas discovers that this is false and the game has begun.  The game focusses on a key moment of Nicholas's life when, as a child, he witnessed his father committing suicide by leaping off a tall building; significantly Nicholas' father took his life on his fortieth birthday -- the same age Nicholas is now.
+As the movie progresses evidence mounts that the game is actually an elaborate scheme.  Repeated attempts are made on Nicholas's life. While Nicholas is disoriented, the payroll accounts he controls have been drained.  Feeling estranged from his friends and lawyer, eventually Nicholas becomes desperate, recovers a hidden gun from his home, and heads directly into the recently-moved offices of the game company.  He takes one of the staff hostage and demands answers.  The staffer at first appears to side with Nicholas and seems surprised by the gun, revealing that  the game company thought they had replaced any firearms Nicholas could access with fakes.  After a series of narrow escapes, The movie comes to a climax on the roof of the game company's skyscraper.  A jumpy Nicholas again demands answers.  A door opens, surprising Nicholas and he fires without looking, only to reveal that he has shot his brother holding a surprise birthday cake.  Stricken with remorse, Nicholas leaps off the skyscraper and crashes through a glass ceiling, but he lands safely in an airbag.  There he finds his family and friends awaiting his arrival and the game is revealed to have just been a game.  The accounts have not been drained, the gun was replaced with one firing blanks, his brother is alive.
 A real life version of this game called [[Mr Gamer]] exists.