The Blabbering Inferno: BIG GAME. REVIEWED.

Big Game (2014)

Rating- 12a

Running Time- 1 hour 50 minutes

Directed by- Jalmari Helander

Written by- Jalmari Helander

The idea of the President of the United States being lost in a forest while being hunted by a group of terrorists seems so ludicrous that there’s no way it could be anything but entertaining, throw in the fact that the President is played by Samuel L. Jackson and you’ve got a film well worth a watch. And, while Big Game may not deliver everything a good film should, it is entertaining nonetheless.

When Air Force One is hit by a missile the President is forced to evacuate, via an escape pod, before the jet comes crashing down. He lands in a forest in Finland where he is found by Oskari (Onni Tommila), a young Finnish boy who is on a trial of ‘manhood’ where he is to survive on his own and prove himself a worthy hunter; his main motivation is to impress his father, a highly respected figure amongst his people. The two of them team up and attempt to escape the forest before the terrorists who attacked Air Force One can find them.

The first half an hour of the film is somewhat tedious with the establishment of Oskari’s character taking just a little bit too long meaning we don’t actually see Samuel L. Jackson on screen until about 20 minutes into the film which, considering he’s the film’s major selling point, is probably too long of a wait. It naturally takes a much shorter amount of time to set up his character when he finally does appear though as all we need to know is that he’s the president and he’s Samuel L. Jackson, we don’t need any extra information to know what that entails. This scene is used though to set up the character of Morris (Ray Stevenson) who is the President’s head of security. We learn through some very on-the-nose dialogue that he has recently taken a bullet for the President and he is being forced to retire after this final exploit. I believe the line actually said by the President is, “I know you took a bullet for me and are being forced to retire after this” or something close to that. You have to credit the writer there; that may not have been the cleverest or most natural way of giving us that information but, by God, was it ever efficient.

The last part of the film though is wildly entertaining because it is so ridiculous that it is amazing. The President and Oskari continually find themselves in unbelievable danger only to find some absurd way to get out of it at the last minute. Many of these, especially the final one, are so comical and borderline slapstick that they are almost Naked Gun-esque but the only problem with them is that they seem out of place which they really shouldn’t considering the nature of the film. The problem is that the creators of the film decided to implement an all too serious through-line that stops these comical events from reaching the heights of their potential effect. Which is disappointing because otherwise these scenes would have been enough to make me want to watch the film again but, as it is, one watch is enough.

Overall, Big Game is an entertaining film but has problems finding its tone and style resulting in both the comedic and dramatic aspects feeling out of place. It is the type of film that a group of friends would watch when they are wanting to just switch off and watch a film that doesn’t require anywhere near full attention.