Review:
"Big Game"
Release Date: June 26, 2015
Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 87 minutes In the VOD release Big Game, Air Force One is down, and all that stands between the U.S. President and certain death is a pint-size Snake Plissken with an attitude to match. President William Allan Moore (Samuel L. Jackson) is stranded in a forest in Finland after being betrayed by Morris, a Secret Service agent (Jackson’s fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe cast member Ray Stevenson). Morris in cahoots with a big-game hunter (Mehmet Kurtulusgmail) who wants to literally and figuratively stuff and mount Moore. The president crosses paths with Oskari (Onni Tommila), a 13-year-old boy on a coming-of-age hunting ritual. Oskari vows to lead the president to safely—after he’s hunted and killed a bear, of course. This cross between The Most Dangerous Game and Escape From New York comes from Rare Exports writer/director Jalmari Helander. Big Game isn’t as distinct or as bonkers as Rare Exports but it’s a fun hunt while it lasts. Helander strikes a fine balance between the tension that’s found in Moore’s plight and the inherent humor of the President of the United States being protected by a teenager armed with just a youth archery set but blessed with impressive survival skills. Then there’s the freezer. To say more would spoil the best set piece in Big Game. The biggest laughs, though, come from the Vice President (Victor Garber) and the CIA and Pentagon officials (Felicity Huffman, Ted Levine, and Jim Broadbent, a wry source of comic relief) charged with locating and rescuing Moore. Watching Moore’s every move from a satellite feed, their reactions to the mayhem that follows the president across the snowy Finnish wilderness are priceless. Jackson plays it uncool and physically unimposing for once—his president doesn’t appear to be highly feared or respected. He also develops a strong rapport with Tommila, which is never more evident than when he delivers words of encouragement that recall his president’s most embarrassing public moment in office. There’s grit and determination to be found in Oskari but Tommila also does not shy away from showing the fear that occasionally and understandably grips his junior badass. Oskari is not the hero we expected but he’s the hero we need. Robert Sims Aired: June 25, 2015 Web site: https://www.facebook.com/BigGameMovieUS |
|