Pro Membership
The Game (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Inhouse product
Customer Image, click to open customer review
Reviews & Ratings
-
Vince M. Barron
09-08-2025This is a brilliant, unheralded gem. An unexpected thriller that will have you in it's clutches until the very end.
-
BrandtArt
09-08-2025The Game is an interesting film in that it has grown on me over the years into one of my all time favorite David Fincher films. I saw it back in the theater when it first came out and thought it was a decent thriller with some scenes I didn't really agree with (the ending in particular with the fall through the skylight) or find believable. And yet, year after year whenever this film would pop up on cable TV, I'd find myself watching at whatever point the film was at. I started to really pay attention to the subtleties in a film that doesn't seem subtle upon first viewing. I just found myself drawn to the sheer mind f*** of the entire film and the incredibly well cast characters. Michael Douglas is perfect in his role as uptight Nicholas Van Orton. And as each sequence unfolds around him and he becomes more and more disheveled and distraught I'd find myself cheering CRS and their "game." Fincher's directing and the film's art direction, cinematography, aspect ratio, Howard Shore's music, etc. are incredibly enhanced in this Blu-ray release from the always outstanding Criterion. This Blu-ray set is far superior to the other two older DVD's I own of this film. The extras are worth a look and the extra audio voice tracks are informative as well. Michael Douglas has some interesting comments regarding his experiences on this film as does Fincher. If you don't own this Blu-ray version of The Game I highly recommend that you invest in a copy. The Game is a lot of fun and I wish I could sign up for my own personally tailored adventure with CRS asap!
-
M. Britton
09-08-2025Was hesitant on getting this movie on blu ray. This great thriller is one of the better films by David Fincher (SEVEN wins the best) and Criterion has treated us to the best this dark movie has ever looked! This was always a hard film to transfer to home video and I was scared to risk getting another retread transfer. The first being the awesome Laserdisc from Criterion and the last on a horrible looking HD-DVD. I am glad I took the risk and upgraded to the Criterion blu ray. This is one fabulous looking visual feast. The detail in the dark picture is unbelievable. Have always been unable to see what is going on. Not anymore. I don't know how Criterion did it, but you can see in the darkness without the blacks looking gray. And they tweaked the color where the Polygram DVD looked golden colored. Just make sure you watch this in a dimly lit room because most of this movie is dark. It is presented in its original 2.35 Super 35 widescreen format. With two soundtracks in DTS-HD. The "newest" being an alternate 5.1 optimized for home theater. Looks like most of the special features are carried over from Criterion's Laserdisc (like the commentary), except for this fantastic looking transfer and this wonderful newer soundtrack. I can't say it enough: upgrade to the blu ray if you are a fan of this thriller. I realize it is costly, but with Criterion you shouldn't be disappointed.Just wished Criterion would get the rights to release SEVEN on blu ray. Their Laserdisc was awesome back in the day and the Warner blu ray can't touch the brilliance that Criterion brought to that dark movie.Criterion has always done the darker David Fincher films right.
Technical Specifications
Enormously wealthy and emotionally remote investment banker Nicholas Van Orton (Traffic’s Michael Douglas) receives a strange gift from his ne’er-do-well younger brother (Milk’s Sean Penn) on his forty-eighth birthday: a voucher for a game that, if he agrees to play it, will change his life. Thus begins a trip down a rabbit hole that is puzzling, terrifying, and exhilarating for Nicholas and viewer alike. This multilayered, noirish descent into one man’s personal hell is also a surreal, metacinematic journey that, two years after the phenomenon Se7en, further demonstrated that director David Fincher was one of Hollywood’s true contemporary visionaries.
