Nemesis Game

This is one of the movies that keeps you glued to your seat till the end by weaving too many plot webs but in the end fails miserably to provide some interesting climax. 'Nemesis Game' has a decent basic plot, taut suspense, an interesting central character... but the ending is just meaningless and thus making the whole effort very disappointing. The movie somehow reminded me of the Jude Law starred 'Existenz' but far less efficient in making a story come around. Director Jesse Warn tries hard to give it a cult look, with appropriate shooting locations, good background music,decent script etc and is aided by nice performance by Carly Pope. Yes, the riddles themselves sometimes looked easy, sometimes bizarre which leaves a mixed impression, but they were not enough to answer all the incidents happening in the film. The ending is just too 'cheap' to provide the answers. If somehow that means to keep the viewer occupied with it after watching the film, that's the big mistake. Because without good climax, any such film is instantly forgettable.

The film starts off pretty well. It's fast paced, well directed and creates suspense. Unfortunately it has the same problem as the Michael Douglas vehicle "The Game" where suspense is created through impossible situations for which there can be no satisfactory explanation. It's the same thing here: after about 90% of the film writer and director seem to have noticed that they need an end and so they come up with one too quickly; considering the built up the end is an anti climax. But what is worse is the fact that it does not make any sense whatsoever which I find plainly very annoying. So all in all I think there is a lot of talent wasted in this film: great actors and a gifted director but nothing comes of it. So in spite of the brilliance of 90% of the film it's not worth watching.

At the start of the movie, Det. Jeff Novak is trying to get Emily Gray, who did time for trying to drown a boy, to confess to another crime. All she will do is talk in riddles.

After that, we see Dennis and Vern, two weeks earlier, talking about the meaning of life in Vern's store, which sells merchandise that appeals to heavy metal and alternative rock fans.

Then we see a like-new 1966 Ford pickup being driven through the dark, wet streets of an unidentified large city (Toronto University is mentioned). Sara is then given the first of several clues that she needs to solve a mystery (while being timed) as she explores a section of town she probably shouldn't be in after dark.

Sara, the detective's daughter, is in college, but her father feels she is not reaching her potential. Jeremy and Marie are in her philosophy class. Jeremy would like to date Sara, but she would rather not. Jeremy is persistent, and he says he knows her secret--she drives to school but takes the subway home.

When she gets on the subway, Sara sees riddles written in blue, mostly on the walls. The mystery author of the riddles is behaving in the same way as the mythological character Nemesis (not the Nemesis of Greek mythology, though--she is female, and the pictures and stories in this movie seem to be of a man; to the ancient Greeks, The Sphinx was responsible for riddles).

The game becomes a life-and-death situation after a murder.

This movie is darker than what I generally would watch. Sara was appealing, though, and sort of pretty. My biggest incentive to watch was Jay Baruchel, who was a teenage lawyer in "Just Legal", a fine series not given enough of a chance. I liked him better on the TV series, but that doesn't mean he wasn't good here. I thought most of the acting was well done, and this seemed intelligently written, even if the myth of Nemesis seemed to be invented. at least I didn't find anything on this character.

The mystery was interesting, though the ending was somewhat shocking. There was more tension than real excitement. There wasn't too much violence.

It wasn't my taste, but it should appeal to those who like darker movies.

I originally rented this direct-to-video film because it stars one of my favorite actors (Adrian Paul). I expected this cheesy boring film that would be average. Instead what I found was a movie that kept me guessing until the very end. The film has a superb ending and good acting all the way around. Sarah Novak is a fan of riddles. When she stumbles across a game where riddle after riddle are solved for fun, she gets herself in over her head when the game turns deadly. The 'Nemesis Game' as it comes to be called is supposed to end with one final riddle. If the player gets the riddle correct and writes the answer on the wall, then they are shown 'the design' of the game; a design that is supposed to make them insane. I know, I know the story sounds weird and stupid. But I assure you this is a fabulous film. It opens kind of slow but you must give it a chance to get going. Once it does, it doesn't let go. This very unique plot and inventive ending leave you wanting to know more of story at the end. At the end it leaves you saying 'wow.' This film is highly recommended.

Ok.. here's a short synopsis of the movie : Sara Novak (Carly Pope) is a college girl who's into riddles. She 'plays' riddle games with Vern (Adrian Paul), a shopkeeper, in a scavenger hunt type thing, where solving one riddle will lead to another one. But both of them (separately) get an 'invitation' to play a series of riddles, (usually spray painted on subways for Sara, and on his shop windows/websites for Adrian) which, once solved will reveal the 'design' supposedly explaining why things in life are the way they are i.e. the meaning of life. There are a couple of murders along the way and the whole thing meanders to a climax which is more predictable than my mother-in-law's christmas dinner. Of course by this time, you are so numb thanks to the insipid acting and the stupid plot, that you have lost the will to live and dont care anymore. I have seen a lot of silly movies in my life (unfortunately) and this one deserves to be right on top of the list with the others. The riddles are so ridiculous that even my 5 year-old nephew could have solved them after taking a look. What I would indeed like to know who finances these things. I have a couple of movie ideas about talking chipmunks involved in industrial espionage that I'd like to run past them. In short : Do not watch this movie at all costs!!