Customer Reviews

Dangerous Game [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Okay, I admit it, I'm an unashamed Madonna fan. I watch all of her movies and enjoy most of them. I do have to admit that some performances have been slightly 'raw', but in Dangerous Game, she shines brightly.

This is definitely an arthouse movie. You would need to enjoy indi and arthouse movies to appreciate this movie.

Dangerous Game has the motif of 'movie within a movie'....we see a movie being made and the behind the scenes footage.

In my opinion this is Madonna's finest acting performance. She brings so much to the character to give a mutlilayered performance.

Not just for Madonna fans - for all who enjoy indi/arthouse movies that make you think....

After the critical panning of the majority of Madonna's films it is easy to dismiss this seemingly insignificant little indie as nothing more than another one of her mistakes or attempts to shock. However, unlike the truly awful Body Of Evidence Dangerous Game does feature a strong storyline and great performances both from Madonna and Harvey Keitel.

Madonna looks more stunning than ever as Sarah Jennings the tragic talentless actress who is referred to by Keitel as "The womanwho can't act". The role is probably not unlike Madonna herself in some ways, although she definately is not talentless, as she endures much abuse in the film as was rumoured she experienced in the late 80's while married to Sean Penn. I suspect this is probably so as such an emotionally raw performance could not be achieved with some drawing and delving into personal experience.

Dangerous Game proves without doubt that the Material girl can act and it is just a shame that the rest of the movie does not hold up to her incredible performance. Abel Ferrara direction is not at it's best and the editing is also very shoddy. The film also features lashings of sex, swearing, violence and rape and this is likely to offend many viewers but if you can cope with that then the movie is a must see not just for Madonna fans but also for anyone who enjoys a good unpredictable thriller. Go rent it!!! Now come on you know you want to!

After several failed attempts at acting in starring roles that were all critical/box office duds, Madonna decided to pick herself up by her bra straps and give a real, intense acting performance. True Madonna has shown some acting skill in the past with such roles as trampy free spirit Susan in "Desperately Seeking Susan", frisky baseball player "All The Way" Mae Mordabito in "A League Of Their Own" and the sexy, complicated chauntesse Breathless Mahoney in "Dick Tracy" but all of those roles were supporting and Madonna has proven herself adept at doing her best work when the pressure isn't on her to deliver the goods. Leading roles in SHANGHAI SURPRISE, WHO'S THAT GIRL?, BODY OF EVIDENCE and THE NEXT BEST THING, have all ended in catastrophe damaging Madonna's ever shaky movie career each time. But after the debacle of Body of Evidence, the underappreciated EROTICA album and the mega-selling but shame inducing SEX book, Madonna's career was at an all time nadir and she was basically pronounced dead as a doorknob by all her critics and detractors. With DANGEROUS GAME, Madonna gave her all in an intense, raw, from the gut performance which was definently overlooked by the public. As Sarah Jennings, TV starlet given the lead role in a dark, moody art film about the disintegration of a marriage, Madonna shines in a role that truly displays her talents. As Claire, Madonna also revealed a vulnerable and haunting side to her persona, which stays with any viewer of the movie long after the credits roll. You remember the rumors of domestic abuse that swirled around Madonna's 80's marriage to bad boy actor Sean Penn and you wonder if she was reliving her traumas through Claire. Who knows, but Madonna is genuine and real and has feelings and emotions and displays them wonderfully. The film however didn't really stand up as well as Madonna's performance but it will forever be remembered as the movie that gave Madonna some of her acting credibility. (This movie by the way preceded Madonna's Golden Globe award-winning, critically hailed performance as Eva Peron in EVITA )

i was forced to rent this movie by a friend because it had madonna. The box made it look ridiculous, and I was very uninterested in watching it. As soon as it got going, I was mesmorized. I don't understand what everyone has against this movie, to each his own i suppose, but it has some of the most incredible acting I've seen in many many many years. Forever will James Russo's "I NEED THESE THINGS!!!" be ringing in my ears.

It was really dramatic, and dark. A homo-erotic comendy/ suspense thiller. Madonna did a good job as an actress. She played the emotional baggage very well. All of actors were used to the plot of the movie, and really put themselves into this film.

This is Madonna's best performance and one of the best performances by any screen actress for that matter. The film is very disturbing, yet so brilliant. It is sadly poetic in an exestential anti-transformative sort of Bataille-spiritual way. I love the film and love the DVD. It is a must have for any Madonna fan or Abel fan. And it is definately for any fan of classy, high-end, postmodern, underground narrative cinema. This is Abel's best film. Madonna and Abel are absolutely stunning and brilliant in this classic masterpiece of alternative cinema.

You know how Amazon ratings work, so you might understand that I under-rated this mess because the over-all mean was way too high. This is a fascinating film in some ways. It's OK. Keitel and Russo have some unusual acting contexts in which to strut their stuff. It was mean to cast Madonna. She's so awful that the film seems to endorse all the misogynistic violence towards her. Keitel has fun playing Abel Ferrara, perhaps partly in revenge for being Catholicly "exploited" in Bad Lieutenant. I remember when I first saw this in the early 90s right after Bad Lieutenant, the intertextual references seemed very graphic. Less so now, but the film, as sub-standard as it is, has to be appreciated as a reaction by both keitel and Ferrara to their impressive collaboration in the aforementioned Zoe Tamerlis-scripted masterpiece. James Russo is excellent with a weakly-scripted part. Whatever happened to Russo? Such a good actor. Nicholas St. John - a frequent collaborator of Ferrara - shows no real talent in this rather enervated Hollywood lampoon. And for that matter, whatever happened to Ferrara?

It has become so commonplace for critics (professional and armchair alike) to trash Madonna's film outings that when she does deliver a solid performance, hardly anyone sees or hears about it. Such is the case with Abel Ferrara's 1993 box office bomb, "Dangerous Game". With a Hollywood backdrop, the film chronicles the agonies and ecstasies (mostly agonies) of a highly volatile and unstable group of people attempting to get a movie completed. As the tensions in the film spill over into the real lives of the actors and director, an atmosphere of escalating insanity develops, turning the movie set into a breeding ground for out-of-control behavior. Although "Dangerous Game" was produced by Madonna's (former) company, Maverick, make no mistake about it, this is an Abel Ferrara film all the way down the line. It is tough, dark, and uncompromising, which is probably one of the reasons why many people seem to hate this film. Ferrara gained earlier fame with the gritty "Bad Lieutenant" and "Ms. 45", so a viewer familiar with those films will already have an idea what to expect from "Dangerous Game".

Harvey Keitel, as always, does a stellar job. Here he plays a New York film director, leaving his family to fly to L.A. and make an extremely disturbing film about infidelity and abuse. Keitel, with his frazzled hair and craggy face, realistically portrays the increasing isolation of his character from his wife and son, eventually sinking into despair and disillusionment. James Russo, as the male lead of the film-within-a-film, excels at playing psychopaths, and here he's walking a fine line as a man descending into a drug and alcohol induced world of paranoid madness. He's a good actor and gives a convincing performance but his constant carrying-on in this film does get wearying. Of course, as stated above, the real revelation comes from Madonna's (pardon the pun) immaculate performance as the film's female lead. She is totally believable in a role that calls for her to exhibit acting chops I never dreamed she had. Too many bad roles in bad movies have, I believe, led most people to stereotype her as a bad actress, but that's really not true. She's done good work in other films ("Evita", Desperately Seeking Susan", "Dick Tracy") but she's won notoriety for "Swept Away", "Who's That Girl?", "The Next Best Thing",and "Shanghai Surprise", and that's what most people think about when they hear the words Madonna and movie used in the same sentence. In "Dangerous Game" she's a gorgeous, frightened, overgrown kid trying to act like a tough grownup, and, in the process, becoming an eternal victim. It's easily Madonna's best acting job, and it's obvious that she had to reach deep within herself to deliver a performance of this range and quality.

The film itself is too relentlessly despairing and depressing. Despite the fine cinematography, there's an underlying ugliness to the film; it's an extremely effective and disturbing film, without ever being enjoyable, and maybe that's what killed it at the box office. Worth a look if you're aware of what you're getting into.

The reviews on this puppy were atrocious, it barely got a release in theaters (despite having Madonna and Keitel), but when I first saw it, I was mesmerized by it. It's just a film about the making of a film. There really isn't any plot. But the film has many powerful scenes, and there is almost an unbearable tension on this film set, as Keitel is deliberately screwing around with Russo's character (bullying him, yelling at him), he's having sex with Madonna's character (in order to "build up" her character), and Keitel's wife (played by the then Mrs. Ferrara) ends up furious at him when she is told about it. It's really a very brutal portrayal of the film world. Not all films are like this obviously, but there are many who probably are. Abel Ferrara's film has a power to it, and I'm not really sure why. Madonna actually gives one of her best performances, playing a real person as opposed to just being Madonna, which she usually does. James Russo sears the screen as usual. It's a shame he isn't better known, as he is a superlative actor. And Keitel is, well, Keitel, giving another great performance here. I really have no idea why critics dumped on this one. Perhaps it's their dislike of Madonna movies, and given her track record, one can't blame them. But this is worth checking out, especially for Keitel and Abel Ferrara fans.

This review is written by an Abel fan rather than a Madonna fan who I think is unbearable in this movie. She stars as Sarah Jennings an actress who has just landed the lead role in a film called Mother of Mirrors. The film deals with a married couple who have lived a lifestyle that includes heavy drug use and sex with multiple partners. The wife has had a spiritual awakening and no longer wants to partake in these sinful activities. She's hoping that her husband will stop as well and she makes it her mission to save him. The husband doesn't want to hear it and he beats her and taunts her about her new found faith. Directing this film is Eddie Israel (Harvey Keitel). The fact that Keitel is playing a character very similar to director Abel Ferrara is what makes this challenging film worth the effort. The film within a film Mother of Mirrors is similar to Abel's relationship with his ex-wife Nancy. (Nancy even plays Eddie's wife in the movie.) Keitel completely captures Abel complete with the long hair, leather coat, and shades that Ferrara frequently wears. More than a physical transformation Keitel shows how Abel works with his actors: tender when he needs to be and violent and confrontational when the scene isn't working. This film feels a lot like David Lynch's Inland Empire as what is taking place in the fake movie begins to happen to the actors in their everyday lives. Sarah and Burns (James Russo) the actor playing her husband are actually having an off screen relationship that is becoming more violent as the film shoot progresses. Burns is fueled by heavy drug use which holds up shooting and leads to confrontations between him and Eddie. To further complicate things Eddie has even begun sleeping with Sarah. At times trying to figure out what is in the movie and what is actually happening can be confusing but mostly it's just annoying. The acting from Madonna and James Russo doesn't help any since they are both so grating and whine constantly. Keitel is the saving grace of the film turning in a fine performance but he alone can't save things. The film just plunges deeper and deeper into violence and drug use. What makes this film interesting for Abel fans is in watching this fictionalized account of his life and wondering how much of it is true. There is a scene towards the end of the film where Eddie confesses to Nancy that he has been sleeping with Sarah and the two women missed each other by seconds once when Nancy brought the kids to the set to pay him a visit. Eddie digs the knife deeper by admitting that Sarah wasn't the first that there have been numerous others on each film he has worked on. Eddie's timing couldn't be better since the time he chooses to get things off his chest happens to be the morning of Nancy's father's funeral. There is another interesting moment where Eddie ridicules Sarah and tells her that without him she would be nothing. He is doing her a favor by casting her in this movie and he is solely responsible for her career taking off. Madonna's production company Maverick produced this film and no doubt contributed money to the film. Abel probably would have had trouble getting this film made were it not for Madonna's participation. It fails to be as good as Bad Lieutenant even though it takes the same raw approach. Near the end of the film when things are looking hopeless for everyone especially Eddie who is lost in a haze of pills and booze he watches a documentary with director Werner Herzog. Herzog says that even if everyone tells him that the film is a masterpiece he will never be able to justify it to himself and thinks that he should be put in an insane asylum. The ending is certainly a downer as each character meets their dark fate and once Bob Dylan starts singing Blue Moon over the end credits you are glad that this Abel exercise is finally over.