Movie Review- G@me

G@me is a 2003 thriller film starring Yukie Nakama and Naohito Fujiki as the protagonists. The movie received generally positive feedback. It was based on a thriller novel by Keigo Higashino.

The story revolves around the kidnapping of Yukie Nakama who is the daughter of Katsuragi, the famous vice president of Mikado beer. Naohito Fujiki is an employee in an advertising firm who is given the responsibility of designing a promotion plan for a new variety of beer produced by Mikado. Katsuragi coldly disapproves of his plan. To take revenge, Naohito plans to kidnap his daughter whom he sees sneaking out of the house that night. Yukie Nakama plays along because she wants the money.

The film is categorised as thriller and lives up to it. There are a lot of romantic elements in the story. There are several sub plots woven into the movie and it always has some shocking relevation to make. The whole kidnapping and sub plots are treated as games.
Just when the movie seems to be coming to an end, another shocking fact is revealed. However, due to Naohito Fujiki's stoic acting, nothing makes an impact. Yukie Nakama acts well for the role but this is not one of her great projects. The story (plot) is good. Katsuragi is clearly the best actor because he acts like he should.

The romance seems a little fake especially at the beginning. Yukie Nakama looks good, as always. I am a fan of Yukie Nakama and I saw the movie because she is acting in it. The movie is not very long (around 112 min.). The plot is what keeps the movie going. Still, the impact of twists and turns was minimised.

Another problem was the greatest problem faced by japanese movies- ambiguous ending. These kinds of endings work well for horror not for romance. Just when everything seems to be right, the ending suddenly takes a turn for the worse and Naohito Fujiki says 'game over'. It really annoyed me to see a stupid end like this to their romance. The romance is an important element of the storyline.

Overall, this movie was nothign great or even good. Okay for light entertainment but nothing more. The cast is what made this movie sell.

Acting- 3.9/5
Story-4.2/5
Music- 3/5
Characters- 4/5
Overall-3.5/5