If you have a dark world view and a great deal of patience,
Dangerous Game might be the flick for you. It made me think
about the individual scenes that make a film, and the performances therein that elicit a particular response in the viewer. The whole movie is difficult to watch-at times I had to look away.
On the surface one might dismiss it as Crackhead Cassavetes.
But Keitel's character Eddie Israel and real-life director Abel
Ferrara's intentions run parallel-both men lead their actors on a
descent into a personalized hell. The script on occasion seems
ponderous and repetitive-at some points it seems as though
director Eddie Israel's film-within-a-film consists of only one
scene. James Russo (always creepy to watch) is a tightly-wound
sickening knot as Burns, and Madonna's portrayal of Sarah as
victim is an equally punishing one, both for the actress and the
viewer. And when Keitel hits you with the signature half-whine,
half-howl we hate to love him for, the fat lady has sung. There isn't
one weak performance in this film, but it's not fun at all. You
wonder why this is called entertainment. It's entertaining in the
same way watching two strangers nearly come to blows is
entertaining-you end up feeling good because it's not happening
to you.