Starring:	Michael Douglas	128min
	Deborah Kara Unger
	Sean Penn	1997
Screenplay:	John Brancato & Michael Ferris	Thriller
Director:	David Fincher	Colour

Region	2	Studio:	Polygram
Format	Double Sided, Single Layer	Subtitles	English
			English Closed Captions
Aspect ratio	2.35:1 or 4:3		German
			German Closed Captions
Anamorphic	Yes
Soundtracks	Dolby Digital 5.1	Extra Features	Cast & crew biographies
	German Dolby Digital 5.1		Accompanying booklet
Case type	Jewel

The DVD * * *		The Movie *
Shot on the please-everybody Super 35, this fine looking transfer (some blocking on hyper-close inspection) comes in Polygram's customary choice of pan & scan or widescreen. Unusually for Polygram, this is presented - at director Fincher's insistence - the full 2.35:1 monty. The increasingly popular variable-ratio format covers a multitude of methods of working, and a side by side between the two frames here shows that a considerable amount of side information is lost in 4:3, and a small amount of bottom of frame lost on the widescreen side. The sound, meanwhile, is fine, if lacking in dynamic range - the gunshots sound rather limp. Identical biographies of cast, writers, producer and director appear on-screen and in the booklet, and the menu design is fine. Overall this is a nicely presented, if uninspired DVD.		This eagerly awaited follow up from the director of Seven - the deeply shocking but thoughtful grim-flick - is a stylish pile of absolute kack. In fact, in its own unique way, it is a contender for one of the worst movies ever made. The big idea involves Douglas' standard ruthless super-rich guy, in this case also a recluse unable to conduct even the most basic of relationships with any kind of humanity. His life becomes considerably more complicated when his brother (Penn) gets him a surprise birthday present - an invitation to use Consumer Recreation Services. Not an escort agency, the mysterious CRS is a highly sophisticated role playing games company with a difference - you get on with your life, and the game will find you. So far so good, a fine premise. But from the moment he steps through the office door, it all goes horribly wrong. It is one thing that we don't particularly care for our lead character, but quite another to find him more imbecilic than Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels put together. "No! Don't do that! No!!! What are you doing??!!" How did he ever make any money? Every decision he takes is so monumentally stupid that the resulting increasing violence and horror earn not our dread, but our derision. This is a shameful waste of talent, right down to whoever had the story idea in the first place. Of course I won't reveal what happens at the end, except to say it is so monumentally ridiculous it provides a sense of ironically fitting one-upmanship to the rest of the tosh. Douglas has done this before, Fincher makes it all look great and provides as much surface tension as the madness allows, and at least there is a genuine attempt to make a big budget thriller different. But however worthy the aim, the result is dire. It's a movie that attracts an audience with intelligence, and then goes out of its way to insult it. This is one game that ain't worth playing.