Title – Big Game (2014)

Director – Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale)

Cast – Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson, Jim Broadbent, Felicity Huffmann

Plot – In the wilds of Finland, young hunter Oskari (Tommila) discovers the American president William Allen Moore (Jackson) fighting for survival after his plane has been shot down by terrorists. Teaming up together the miss-matched pair must use their wits to survive and escape to freedom.

“Not political, not religious. He is just a certified grade-A psychopath”

Review by Eddie on 22/01/2016

One of the most 80’s like films of recent times, Jalmari Helander’s (director of the fantastic Xmas horror Rare Exports) Big Game is the type of movie John Carpenter would’ve made in his heyday and would’ve made well but in the year 2016, Big Game sadly doesn’t feel either that big or doesn’t bring enough game to take the film forward for a touchdown.

Taking far too long to get into the stuff we paid money to see, Big Game’s simple set up of the president as played by the typical Samuel L. Jackson finding himself stranded in the Finnish wilderness after Air Force One has been shot down only to find himself teaming up with young hunter Oskari (played by the conveniently fluent in English Onni Tommila), only flirts with acting upon its premise of high explosive thrills and kills and for a majority of the films runtime you’d be wishing that people would stop talking and let the action speak for itself.

When Helander lets the action do the talking, Big Game can all of a sudden showcase some impressive visuals and neat action ideas but for a film with such an over the top premise the over the top action sometimes feels to far removed from reality whether its Oskari’s ability to jump onto moving cargo being carried by a helicopter or bad guys all of a sudden not being able to aim their guns, Big Game’s set pieces often peter out into uninteresting scenarios despite the seemingly ripe opportunities to be a true action blast.

One of those Samuel L. Jackson movies that feels like it was made purely to allow Jackson to collect another easy pay check, Big Game has a great idea and some moments of ingenuity but overall it feels like one big missed opportunity that would perhaps be worthy of remake some years down the track.

With the right mix of action, humour and acting, Big Game could easily become the greatest John Carpenter movie ever made by someone that’s not John Carpenter, unless of course the great man would like to give his spin on it all?

2 kitted up atv’s out of 5