David Fincherhas a fair share of quality movies in his filmography. For a filmmaking career that began with a rocky startwithAlien 3, Fincher has become one of the few directors still in Hollywood today that people will go out to see a film just because his name is on it, and they trust in his brand. When he’s at his best, he makes some of the best movies made in the last three decades, and when he’s at his worst, it’s still better than most.
When you glance through David Fincher’s filmography, you begin to notice a couple of things. Much like theStar Trekfilms, his even-numbered movies are always the famous ones that everyone loves (Fight Club,The Social Network, etc.). The odd-numbered ones are the ones that everyone really, really likes a lot (maybe theStar Trekcomparison isn’t a perfect metaphor), such asPanic Room,The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and – oh, that’s right, he did makeThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But much like the originalStar Trekfilms, his third entry,The Game, often gets passed over.
The Gamefollows Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a wealthy investment banker in San Francisco who receives a birthday gift from his younger brother Conrad (Sean Penn). It’s the titular game run by the mysterious company Consumer Recreation Services. The game starts with seemingly petty pranks that evolve into treacherous scenarios that seemingly put both Nicholas’s career (and life) in danger.
Released in 1997,The Gamehas the misfortune of coming hot off the heels ofSe7en, widely regarded as one of thebest thrillers ever made(with an ending so bleak, it makes the ending ofThe Mistlook like the ending ofIt’s a Wonderful Life) and precedingFight Club; another Fincher film that many now consider a classic in its own right.
When sitting snuggly between the two films in the passenger and driver seat in the car that is Fincher’s ’90s era, it’s hard not to be compared to them. That being said,The Gamestill rests comfortably in the middle seat with all the indicators of a proper Fincher film (slick camerawork, low-key lighting, stress-inducing editing), but what it lacks, and what keeps it from being one of his great entries, is a satisfying ending.
Why David Fincher’s The Killer is 2023’s Best Film, So Far
2023 isn’t over yet, but so far David Fincher’s The Killer is the best movie of the year.
“Wow Them In the End”
That’s the rule Brian Cox, as Robert McKee, taught us inAdaptation. An ending can either wrap the film in a nice bow or bring the house of cards tumbling down, and Fincher often keeps his head above water when it comes to great endings. They’re rarely traditional happy endings but usually memorable and fitting with the film’s tone.The Gamedoesn’t have that, and even Fincher has gone on recordsaying that he hates the third act. But it’s not even the last act; it’s the last five minutes.
For most of the runtime, the film is pure escalation of tension and focuses on breaking Nicholas’ sanity. It also raises the mystery of what CRS really is and whether it’s truly dangerous. The film gaslights Nicholas at every turn, and at one point, it seems like he can’t trust anyone around him, down to complete strangers.
The film peakswhen it’s revealed (for now) that CRS is a shady organization that robs Nicholas of all his money, drugs him, and sends him to Mexico with no money or identification. By the time he gets back over the border, he gets back home to find his house is foreclosed, and everything he owns is gone.
The scheme feels like a legitimate threat, and it makes sense given the trials the company put Nicholas through earlier (he spent hours on physical and mental tests as a means to have the game specialized towards him, but it was supposedly a ruse to find out about his financial accounts and passwords). However, the film keeps going until he finds the company’s headquarters.
After breaking in at gunpoint, taking a hostage, going to the roof, and being told it was all genuinely a game, members of the company come out with champagne and cake, led by Conrad, and out of sheer panic, Nicholas accidentally shoots his brother dead. Then, because Nicholas can’t live with the guilt, he jumps off the building, presumably to his death (it’s worth noting that Nicholas’ dad took his own life by jumping to his death, and this is as close as the film gets to having a payoff to that plot point). He crashes through the glass ceiling of the building below, and that’s when it’s discovered…
It Was Just a Game All Along
Nicholas? Yeah, he’s fine. He landed on a giant air cushion to a room hosting his birthday party. Conrad is okay, too, and everyone in the company is full of friendly people, and it’s all okay. No, really, that’s it. There’s no remaining rug under his feet that gets pulled at the last minute; the movie ends with his birthday party and everyone congratulating him for getting through the game.
David Fincher’s The Killer Ending, Explained
Let’s break down the end of David Fincher’s latest thriller, The Killer.
Theending is unfulfillingbecause the entire film is about not trusting anyone or anything, and we, as the audience, are meant to feel that same trepidation as Nicholas with every new revelation. So much so that for the remaining few minutes, you’re waiting with unease for a last-minute plot twist that never happens. So, when met with a neat, consequence-free conclusion, it feels thematically inconsistent with the rest of the movie. Even the film’s last shot is of Nicholas standing next to a taxi with a look on his face that says he’s not entirely convinced it’s over, either.
The film is so layered with deceit and twists and turns that it’s hard to say what would be a satisfying conclusion – though Nicholas leaping to his death after killing his brother would feel in line with the downhearted nature that creeps into Fincher’s work time and time again. Unlike the ending toSe7en, which elevates the film to classic status, the conclusion toThe Gameundermines the rest of the movie because once you realize that all the action that occurs has no real stakes, it releases the tension and makes it difficult to get invested upon revisiting. If it ended with a bang rather than fizzling out, this might’ve been up therewith Fincher’s best.
