Master of the Game (2002) User Reviews

Simply amazing dialogue

[getzel · 7/10 · 12 March 2002]

I managed to catch what I believe to be the premiere of this film at SXSW 2002. It caught my interest because it was filmed completely in and around the new Austin Studios here in Texas using high definition video. I'm glad I heard of it. It is the story of an American Jewish soldier who, after being captured and sent on his way to a death camp, escapes with several other Jewish prisoners only to end up taking shelter in the cabin of four Nazi soldiers. But this is just the beginning. When they find themselves stranded in the cabin for an uncertain amount of time, the American soldier challenges the Nazis to a game of wits for which they are not prepared. By the end of the game, his goal is to have them believe that HE is their superior. Well written and filled with excellent acting, it kept me quite interested. However, while I can say that the situation the characters were in did not completely hold the suspension of disbelief, I can also say that these were some of the best argumental dialogues I've heard in quite some time. On top of that, its an excellent example of how good high definition video can look and how we should all be paying more attention to indie cinema or anything that isn't another big budget, underwritten, remake of some sort from Hollywood.

A Wonderful Thriller That Would Make Hitchcock Proud

[irishluck2000 · 9/10 · 12 April 2002]

I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Stolhand at the Austin Film Festival a few years ago after the screening of his first feature film, "Seeking Cafe Bob". It was a delightful film that ended up winning the Best Screenplay/Best Film Award. Since then I have followed Stolhand's progression as a filmmaker from "What I Like About You," which had a successful screening at Slamdance, to his most recent feature, "Master of the Game".

Despite the cleverness and freshness of Stolhand's previous two films, I was not prepared for the most compelling film that I have seen this year. "Master of the Game" is a delightful display - beautifully shot, powerfully acted, and has the wit and clandestine plot of a David Mamet thriller. Shot on the new HD 24P camera that filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez and George Lucas are now using, the interior shots have the warmth of film.

I do not want to give away any of the plot, so I will not specify any scenes, but Uygar Aktan's script is almost poetic in its narrative - a script that an actor would have to love, with longer prose and emotion found only in laudable play adaptations like "Twelve Angry Men" or "Inherit the Wind" - great films that are all but extinct in today's fast paced genres. And the actors chew the scenery with magnificent adeptness and emotion, giving wonderfully nuanced performances. Prince, in particular, conveys a calculated coldness that is reminiscent of Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List".

But the consummate genius has to be Stolhand's interpretation of the material. Stolhand capitalizes on the intimacy and claustrophobia of the situations without letting the prose feel stagnant. His shots and camera angles are inventive without distracting from the characters. And the overall presentation has a big-budget look and feel. I look forward to following his promising career and would love to see what he is capable of producing with a multimillion dollar budget.

This movie was great

[jstbnme_76 · 9/10 · 2 April 2006]

I had the pleasure of watching an uncut copy of this movie and was pleasantly surprised. I have to say if you ever get a chance to watch this movie do it. Sorry that this was so short but This movie it the Master of the Game and exactly that.

I guess I must have at least 10 lines for this thing to go through so I guess I better talk about the movie a bit.

While in the beginning it runs a little slow it does suck you in deep. I found that after about the first 30 min it gets so mind tangling you just cant stop watching.

I was very fascinated with the Game that was chosen and how the chain of events followed through. I was in fact very pleased with watching this movie and would recommend it to anybody that is interested in a good mind F&@k.

well thats it for now have a nice day.

Edge of your seat thriller with cool twist ending!

[don_wll · 16 November 2004]

This WWII story of a Jewish captive who uses only his wits to turn the tables on his German captors is a fresh look at both the WWII movie and the thriller genre. About ten minutes into the film is a horrific shock that was not only unexpected, but totally set the mood for the life or death struggle for the rest of the film. (I would give more detail, but don't want to give anything away.) The acting was top notch and the director set a dark moody tone throughout the film that keeps you wondering what will happen next. It's refreshing to see a film that is gripping and makes you think!

Stunning, smart thriller. Kept me on the edge of my seat.

[mve10002000 · 10/10 · 11 May 2003]

Decided to see this at the last minute at San Diego Film Fest. So glad I did. The story is a mind bending thriller that kept me glued to my chair. Well acted, beautifully directed and amazingly written.

The story concerns a Jewish prisoner in WWII that escapes the hands of the Germans while in transit to a concentration camp, only to be trapped in an isolated cabin with four German soldiers.

The soldiers torture and keep him alive for their amusement. Before things get worse the prisoner challenges these soldiers to a bizarre mind game. Once the game begins it becomes one of the greatest mind trips I've ever seen. A must see indie flick.

A Thrilling Psychological Ride

[carter_blackwell · 10/10 · 16 November 2004]

I just recently saw Master of the Game, and I was very impressed. I really enjoy a movie that makes me think - and assumes I'm smart to begin with - and this movie did just that. I was totally taken in by the psychological manipulations so subtly carried out by the main character, a Jewish American known only as his tattooed number, 3264.

The movie has great rhythm and slowly and methodically draws the audience member into its mental web. I found myself silently cheering on 3264 as he reduced his captors to mush. The acting in this movie is spot on as is the direction. Although I've never heard of the director until now, I'm certain we'll be seeing more from him. He handles some very tough- to-watch scenes with great sensitivity. And although some will find this movie to be very violent, the violence befits the subject matter, and the movie would certainly suffer without it. To be honest, quite a bit of the violence is inferred, not shown, which is quite a bit more effective.

This is a smart, conversation-provoking film. I would highly recommend it. I'm not sure how long it's playing in Manhattan, but if you have a few free hours, definitely give it a look.

Best Movie I've Seen All Year

[cynweiss · 10/10 · 16 November 2004]

I really didn't know what to expect going into the theater. I had read a review by Chris Gore and thought I'd give it a shot. Well, I'm so glad I did. I was riveted from the start. The slow reveal of a Jewish prisoner at the start of the film was visually stunning - it punctuated the theme that just one person can make a difference.

I am the type of person who gets distracted easily, but I can honestly say I lost total track of time watching this movie. I was totally drawn in by the "game," an intellectual game of cat and mouse. The superb direction keeps the tensions high, and even though most of the film occurs in one cabin, there is never a dull moment - both visually and storywise.

I would highly recommend this movie. It was beautifully shot and directed. The acting was great and the characters were all compelling. One other note - the music was both haunting and passionate. I would love to own the soundtrack.

This is by far the best movie I've seen all year. It really made me do a lot of thinking. I know that a movie has really done its job when I'm still thinking about it days later. I've been so frustrated with all the much-hyped Hollywood pictures this year, that this was a totally refreshing and rewarding experience.

Checkmate with the Spirit of the Devil...

[higherall7 · 10/10 · 26 March 2021]

This movie is not for the faint of heart. The premise is as improbable as what is to be found in ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER (2012), and unexpectedly takes a surrealistic track and runs with it. There is no pretending that this film doesn't require a huge suspension of disbelief that some might not be willing to pay, but for those who can, the exchanges of dialogue rival those in TWELVE ANGRY MEN (1957), and PHONE BOOTH (2002), for gripping suspense. Uygar Aktan is spellbinding as the anonymous Prisoner 3264 with the kind of everyday looks that suggests he could be anyone, but here in this case reduced to a numerical no one. But ahhh, isn't that exactly what Odysseus called out to the Cyclops after he had blinded him?

This drama is an exercise in Social Darwinism run amok and gone to the Devil in somebody's nightmare. It speaks of an incident that could not possibly happen in a million years, such as the official public sanctioning of the extermination of six million people and counting for the sake of advancing civilization and a thousand year empire. Nobody could be that stupid, nobody could be that smart, nobody could be that ignorant, nobody could be that knowing, nobody could be that blind, nobody could be that perceptive to get away with something like that. This screenplay by Aktan challenges all these assumptions and posits with deft psychological probity a vision of how all this madness might have come about. The point being that if the Holocaust could happen amongst civilized and intelligent peoples, why not this as well?

This is more a stage play set to film than a movie, as most of the action happens in a cabin in Poland in the winter. The cinematic flourishes by director Jeff Stolhand are apt and give the story an urgent intensity and visual richness. This is more than a character driven movie; it is also a perverse treatment of the concept of Triumph of the Will. This, you will remember, was the title of one of Leni Riefenstahl's documentaries used for Nazi propaganda. Here we also see it as a damning condemnation of Hitler's precepts, more in the actions of these soldiers holed up against the icy howling wind, than in the veneer of civility that their words attempt to convey.

There are no stars here, only pitiable men seeking to justify their acts of torture and personal barbarity with logic and reason. The compelling thing is how insanely cogent their arguments of self rationalization are, until they are brought to recognize what at heart they have always known. This being the monstrous lengths to which they have gone to assume the air of Superior Men. A fatal computation that in the end produces entropic consequences beggaring even their imaginations. The concepts of being human and being superior and being inferior swirl around in the narrative like a potent concoction for an elixir of death.

There is plenty of back story to reveal the psychological states of the Nazi captors. Perhaps where this drama falls short is in not giving enough back story to the Jewish victims as they are summarily dispatched. This was also something of a flaw in TWELVE ANGRY MEN (1957), as well as COMPULSION (1959), where we find out little or next to nothing about the young boy accused of murder or anything really about the little fellow Steiner and Strauss kill in Leopold and Loeb fashion to establish their claim as 'superior men'. But the character arcs are amazing and swoop down effortlessly to the rotten core of thematic context. The end gives us a stunning reversal of misfortune. The result being that we are left with a bad taste in our mouths, as no one seems completely to be the master of this game.

A good Play maybe, but not a good movie.

[craig-83 · 2/10 · 1 March 2003]

This would have been a great play - it all takes place in two locations and it has great character dialogue, but its not enough. Since it was shot in mostly one small room there is no room for intersteting camera moves or angles. After a third of the move the director has exhausted every perspective and the visuals becoming boring & repeative.

This film was shot HD 24p and it looks amazing. But there were huge errors in Art Direction, props that weren't available at that time period were used and they even used the wrong costumes for the Nazi's. In one scene near the beginning I swear that I along with others saw a Map of Texas being used for Germany. While the dialogue is interesting the basis of the story would never happen. No way ever would a group of german soliders indulge a Jew/American in a game that you know they will lose. It would never happen.

This would make an interesting play in some experimental theater but as a motion picture it comes across as boring and contrived.

Mediocre movie

[cine-11 · 5/10 · 8 April 2005]

I felt I had to write a review to counter the exorbitantly excessive other reviews on this site that spurred me to see this movie in the first place. Most people will not find this movie a "thriller", an "intriguing journey", "ingenious", or "riveting". I think most people would find this movie boring and ridiculous.

It starts out with a promising premise: in trying to escape, a Jewish concentration camp prisoner ironically comes upon an abandoned camp in the woods that just happens to be housing a group of Nazi soldiers isolated by the inclement weather. In order to delay his execution, he proposes playing a mind game, which the bored soldiers agree to. It's from here that the story falls apart. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say that although the "game" is set up to be a clever psychological ploy, it ends up falling flat, playing out like a staged play, with the behavior and reactions of the soldiers utterly scripted and unrealistic. Holes like Swiss cheese - you know the drill. Don't bother.

Good Indie Out of Austin

[Bledsoe-2 · 18 November 2004]

See this one. It goes on your list of movies to see with someone who will have a beer with you later and talk about it for two hours. It's a visual harmonic and 3-D mental chess game. Delving into the dark reaches of the human brain it pits several highly evolved Homo sapiens in a game of survival in the middle of a war which would keep Darwin wondering about it for years. The dialogue is all in English which detracts nothing from the movie. The contest between several Nazi captors with an appropriately evil officer in charge and their lone Jewish-American prisoner is close mental combat in the valley of death. Someone will do a stage play of it, and should.

How not to make a film

[karl_consiglio · 1/10 · 12 December 2007]

I had a feeling it would be an unprofessional film as soon as it started the Jews we witness in captivity are far from convincing, they are way to strong when one considers how deep in the situation we are supposed to be. They look like a couple of depressed Americans on a porch. Then they escape and the next thing is they find food available on a table and are again captive but the soldiers are not sure whether or not to kill them, an impossible situation when one learns about the war in question. But the most ridiculous is yet to come, that is just the beginning. After our hero's mates have been killed and he takes over it just gets pathetic, so unjustifyingly ambitious with the usual spoonfed clichés all over the place, even the music itself, that storm outside for example, even the psychological game is just absurd in theory and the way thy try to portray some point or other(If any) he is trying to play the psychologist with this game which could never have ever taken place. There was no way they would have exchanged clothes with Jews, not even live ones, let alone dead ones, especially in the discomfort of their situation lost out there in them woods. And let a Jew wear their high rank uniform? No way, forget it, its a bad joke this film from beginning to end, in bad taste and one should do his research before attempting film-making, history and psychology, be more sensitive and open minded, rather than just learn the technical side.

suspension of disbelief is a bit difficult to do here....

[Yaelli · 2/10 · 29 May 2006]

I not only worked on this entire movie as a crew member (uncredited) but was present at it's first showing during SXSW in Austin, Texas. Unless they re-cut it for subsequently releases and included scenes filmed long after the fact of production, I feel compelled to tell you not to expect too much from this movie.

While there were many good intentions during its production, it is simply extremely difficult to get over that "suspension of disbelief" that this storyline could have actually happened. Anyone who has some serious knowledge about Nazi history would likely tell you that. Much of the dialog is quite poor too---which would stand to reason given what they are trying to get the viewer to "buy into". And no, I do not think the psychological approach the screenwriter tried to base it on is believable either.

However, there are some good performances by some unknown actors (the screenwriter/lead actor is not one I would include here though), so if you are a patient person who isn't annoyed by inane dialog and can sit through it just for the actor's performances, then go right ahead.

A must see! Fantastic direction. Great performances.

[film140 · 13 March 2002]

Psychological thriller set in WWII. Totally engrossing roller coaster of a film. The tight pacing and amazing acting kept me on board the whole time. A few scenes not for the squeamish. They didn't hold back on the brutality of the film. That's what made the "game" so interesting. Every character's life depends on it. The script and direction obviously handled with great care. Definitely look for this one.