2. Nicholas Van Orten - The Game
No doubt you've heard and probably have grown tired of the expression, "It's either something you love or you hate," but I think it can be directly applied to David Fincher's psychological thriller, The Game. The intriguing, suspenseful concept and twist ending either appealed to you or it didn't so it makes sense for some to thoroughly despise this movie. I, however, am on the side of loving it. Again the concept for The Game is an idea that is extremely hard to pull off well. Plenty of other psychological thrillers where the main character's life is turned upside down and nothing is what it appears to be have been made and have turned out awful. Not only that, but I am willing to venture a wager that the vaults of movie studios are filled with scripts with almost identical concepts that are doomed to never see the light of day. David Fincher, the master of thrillers, executes it perfectly which is partly due to the powerhouse performance of Douglas. Douglas' portrayal of a lonely, angry, rich man who is so haunted and bitter that he is strong case for suicide, but doesn't even realize it is thorougly convincing. As Van Orten is pushed to the brink of confused despair, Douglas delivers a character arc that is pitch perfect. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I really enjoyed the ending and I'm the kind of guy who hates movies that relied on big twists for the end.