Diagonaldi
Very well executed
Cathardincu
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
namashi_1
'Game' is A Decent Thriller! It doesn't leave you awe-struck, but its a good one-time watch, that has some engrossing moments & impressive performances working for it. 'Game' Synopsis: A wealthy man invites four people to his private island to blame three of them for his daughter's sudden death. The next morning, the wealthy man is found murdered. The mystery begins...'Game' has an awesome first-hour, which despite being slightly slow-paced, has the power to engage you aptly. Sadly, the second-hour is not entirely impressive. The finale, in particular, doesn't work. The motive behind the villain's deeds, appears bland. How one wishes if the second-hour was as well-done as the first-hour!Althea Delmas Kaushal's Screenplay is power-packed in parts, but unimpressive other-wise. Abhinay Deo's Direction is top-class. Cinematography captures the foreign locales, stunningly. Editing is razor-sharp. Art & Costume Design are super. Action-Sequences are average.Performance-Wise: Abhishek Bachchan is in good form. He enacts the central protagonist with ease. Kangna Ranaut is perfect. Sarah-Jane Dias looks gorgeous & delivers a fair performance. Jimmy Shergill gets limited scope, but he's remarkable in his bit, as always. Boman Irani hams. Shahana Goswami is okay. Anupam Kher is striking, while Gauhar Khan leaves a mark. On the whole, 'Game' isn't perfection, but absorbing in parts nevertheless.
abhikthakur-1
'Game' is slick and stylish. The visuals are unusual (Greece, Turkey et al) and cinematography impressive. The only problem is it tries too hard and doesn't have the goods to back up its efforts. The biggest shock is the character of Boman Irani- is he the prime ministerial candidate of, did I hear it correctly, Thailand? And that too with a shady past? The tone of the movie is one of seriousness- if that is the case then people would expect you to get such little details right.Another problem is poor casting. Abhishek Bachchan sleepwalks throughout the movie. There is a difference between acting cool and being lazy. He needs to work much, much harder. Sarah Jane Dias is simply horribly cast- one needed a bewitching persona to excel in such a role. Kangna Ranaut would have been better in Sarah's role- and ironically, vice versa is also true! The director and scriptwriter fail on multiple fronts. There is little surprise and only a handful of suspense for the viewer. The CID series does a better job of maintaining suspense and entertaining the audience, even if at a basic level.Overall, a case of promising big, deliver small- and this when I watched it on DVD!
Avinash Patalay
The makers have ensured "Game" has all the ingredients a suspense thriller should encompass - style, sleek and surprises. Sadly there are not in palatable proportions, therefore as the plot thickens the content starts to give away the weight. The premise perhaps is an interesting read but translating it to a nail-biting viewing experience requires smart directorial sensibilities and precisely here Abhinay Deo spills the beans of a newcomer leading to an amateur end product. Additionally the end hardly makes you jump out of the seat as the breadcrumbs are so prominently highlighted in the narrative that the audience is denied of playing guessing game.ᴥ Junior B:: Suave & confident with some great tongue-in-cheek lines.ᴥ Sarah Jane Dias:: Her character though central to the premise hardly leaves an impact owing to the soul-less performance. ᴥ Kangana:: Attempt clearly inspired by Lara Croft which sadly falls flat. Her body language and expressions don't really pull off the feat. Bipasha perhaps?ᴥ Anupam Kher & Boman Irani:: Reliable as usual.ᴥ Jimmy Shergill, Shahana Goswami & Gauhar Khan:: Hardly any meat in the role. Songs hardly register. The inflated production costs are owing to the unwarranted foreign locales. The best thing about "Game" is the editing which has ensured the length is no more than audience staging a walkout."Race" is an ideal benchmark on how a suspense thriller should be delivered.PS: Under the watchful supervision of Mr. Perfectionist it wouldn't be a surprise if Abhinay reclaims lost ground in his next outing (Delhi- Belly).
bobbysing
In the present times when we have some outstanding and well directed crime & mystery serials being served in our homes on daily basis, it becomes very tough to come up with an equally great film in the same genre. Hugely famous series such as C.S.I. has raised the standard of this genre to such heights which now seems to be quite unbeatable especially in our part of the world.And that's the major reason why GAME the latest flick starring Abhishek Bachchan in lead under the debut direction of Abhinay Deo fails entirely and is a great disappointment from its makers. The director seems to be a big fan of foreign thriller films, their production values and their cinematography. But in his awe of the western film-makers, he forgets about the major basic requirement of his project, which has to be a descent & an engaging script. It's not an easy job to make a Who Done It film today, because the people are so impatient that they at once want to jump to the last page (or climax) of the book to know the secret. Moreover a murder mystery has to be fast, interesting, entertaining and surprising all together in its short duration of 2 hours essentially. And in absence of any of these above mentioned elements you cannot win over the audiences, who already have much more solid stuff coming on their home televisions every day. Bollywood's old murder mysteries before the 80s had a fine blend of action, suspense, romance and comedy in them which still remain enjoyable till date. But we have lost that golden touch amongst today's glamour and grandeur, which is no doubt sad as well as unavoidable at the same time. So keeping the same framework in mind, GAME also tries to put everything together in one pot which unfortunately makes the dish completely distasteful and a waste. The film neither has got the required pace nor the excitement which is a must for a film made in this particular genre.Starting with the same kind of setup as seen in the recent LUCK and the oldieSHALIMAR, it takes off nicely but then goes too slow and becomes boring within the first 40 minutes itself. The story developments are not able to engage you at all and one keeps waiting for something great to happen on the screen right till the climax. In short, nothing in GAME impresses you and post intermission one simply feels like wasting his time in the theater helplessly. The songs are all below average with a little relief provided by the background score. Cinematography capturing all the foreign outdoors is excellent, but if the director thinks that by only showing some great virgin locations and stunning chase sequences he can win over the viewers, then he really needs to work upon his art a lot more. In simple words, we are there in the theater for the film and its entertainment but not for some tourist site seeing on the big screen. Besides the characters moving within Mumbai, Bangkok, Istanbul with such an ease and in a STAR-TREK kind of time frame is quite bizarre.Then there are some huge problems in the casting and performance department of the film. Like I simply coudn't understand what was there in the script, especially written for any of its four ladies. First of all Sarah Jane Diaz does nothing other than some Skin Show and changing costumes in her debut movie. Secondly, Kangna as an international police detective looks like a big misfit who overacts and also puts in a lot of visible effort to deliver her dialogues in English. Thirdly, Gauhar Khan is fine but she is only there in the start and end of the movie, taking a leave in between. And lastly Shahana Goswami, the most talented among the four is completely wasted by the director in a very silly manner.Coming to the men in GAME, surprisingly here too we have a lot of talent wasted by the writers because they don't have anything great to give to any of the talented males in the script. Jimmy Shiergill is only there for the namesake and doesn't even have some descent dialogues. Boman Irani for the first time does it over the top with a lot of shouting than acting. Both Mohan Kapur and Benjamin Gilani have only one or two scenes.Among the big ones, Anupam Kher doesn't get any scope in the script and is only dressed well in his opening scene. But I have some serious advice to give to Abhishek Bachchan. In this competitive world, if you only concentrate on your performance and don't care about the other aspects of film-making, like its script, direction and story progression, then you do need to give it a second thought urgently. Abhishek's performance in the film is fine, but as I said earlier who goes to watch a film for only one performance or for only its cinematography? Yes, In India, we do go for a film if it has some HIT songs, but not if it only has some worth watching solo-act, photography or good foreign locations. So, Abhishek desperately needs to work on his choice of films, his directors and in clear words should stop saying yes to the projects put forward by some dear friends and acquaintances.Summing up, I would like to add that don't go for this movie only looking at its inviting title assuming that it will offer some real cunning games for your thinking mind. Instead go for the English Flick with a similar title "THE GAME" starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn which will sure give your grey cells a real tough time.
