The Game
Categories: [ TV/Cinema ]
Wealthy and ruthless San Francisco investment banker Nicholas Van Orton receives from his brother Conrad for his birthday a voucher for a “game” organized by Consumer Recreation Services. Intrigued, Nicholas decides to visit their offices and take the irritatingly long psychological and physical examinations. He later receives a phone call informing him that his application is rejected. Upon his return home in the evening, he finds a wooden clown outside and receives instructions from CRS through his television, telling him not to try and figure out the object of the game. The next day at the restaurant he gets a waitress, Christine, fired because she spilled wine on his shirt, only to be handed a message to not let her out of his sight. Following her outside, they both help a man who just collapsed, are ushered into the ambulance by the police and driven to what looks like the ER's entrance. There they find themselves suddenly alone, manage to take a locked lift thanks to a key found earlier in the clowns mouth, discover they are in CRS' offices and are chased by security. They manage to escape and go their separate ways. Later Nicholas receives a message about a hotel room where he is supposed to have spent the night and when going there finds drugs and erotic polaroid pictures. He's convinced that he's being setup by an investor he just fired, but finds out it's not the case. Nicholas is then contacted by Conrad who tells him that CRS is trying to kill him despite having played their game over a year ago. They part on bad terms when Conrad finds CRS-marked keys in his brother's car. Later Nicholas escapes a murder attempt by a taxi driver throwing the locked car into the harbour thanks to the crank found earlier in his attaché-case that allows him to open the window. Nicholas manages to find where Christine lives and visits her there. He noticed her apartment is fake, and she tells him that they have to flee and are soon shot at by men coming out of a CRS van. Christine reveals that CRS has profiled him and has stolen all of his company's money. Nicholas calls his Swiss bank, giving his password over the phone, and the bank confirms the balance is zero. Nicholas is later drugged by Christine and wakes up in Mexico. He manages to go back to San Francisco and discovers the man who welcomed him at CRS in the beginning is an actor. His home is foreclosed and most of his possessions removed, but he gets a gun from a hidden place. Nicholas then manages to trace the actor through his agent, takes him hostage and forces him to help him enter CRS's premises. He is shot at, and ends up on the roof with Christine who tells him it was all part of the game, but notices that his weapon is a real one. When the roof's door is forced open, Nicholas shoots Conrad who is standing there in a tuxedo and with a bottle of champagne. Desperate because he has shot his brother, he jumps from the roof, crashes through a skylight and lands on a giant airbag. All his friends are there for his birthday party.