Entertaining
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Acting
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Directing
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Story
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson
Director: Jalmari Helander
Running Time: 90 mins
Big Game is a Finnish film about a young teenager who finds himself helping the President Of The United States to survive in the wilderness, after Air Force One is shot down over Northern Finland.I really enjoyed this film. As a simple and slick action adventure, it does its job perfectly, and although its story may not prove the world’s most enthralling or unpredictable, it is a consistently entertaining watch in a different, and seemingly fresh environment to the usual Hollywood fare.
First off, there’s no point expecting the world’s greatest action thriller from Big Game, because it’s definitely not on the highest level. However, what it is is consistently entertaining from start to finish, thanks to a very simple story that allows you to sit back and watch some fairly ridiculous action unfold.
Big Game isn’t just an action movie, it’s a comedy too, and although it’s not a ridiculous parody action movie, it still has a great sense of humour that, in tandem with its simple story, means the film has pretty much free reign to go as far as it wants with its action set pieces.
So, expect people jumping far off cliffs and surviving ridiculous falls, crazy gun battles and more, but none of it feels too cheesy, simply because the whole film has such a good sense of humour throughout.
And that atmosphere continues across all aspects of the film, including the lead performances. Now, while this is hardly Samuel L. Jackson’s most iconic role, he does a good job at subverting the stereotypical kick-ass President we’ve seen in the likes of Air Force One, while allowing the young Onni Tommila to shine in an entertaining and impressively confident co-lead role.
On the whole, I had a fun time with Big Game. It’s not history’s greatest action movie, but with two entertaining lead performances, and a successful sense of humour, the film proves a consistently enjoyable watch, and that’s why I’m giving it a 7.3.
