Review of Big Game (2014) by Kevin D — 23 Apr 2016

Just Awful.

I gave this movie a review only because Mr. Jackson kept a straight face throughout the whole thing.

Okay, so Samuel L. Jackson is elected president of the free world because... ya know, an angry black man who sounds like he comes from Oakland might win. Cue in a little Finnish kid who represents one of Scandinavia's most culturally known folktales. This little boy has to prove his manhood (at the age of 11) by going into the alps (which are in Sweden BTW) and hunting down a god damned bear with nothing but a bow.

Okay onto the criticisms then.

The plot of this movie makes little to no sense. It's an action film obviously, but the action is so ridiculous. I think the movie kinda lost me after the dramatic "president gets stuffed in a freezer and then airlifted through the forest" moment.

It's a bit of a revenge/terrorism story. An angry secret service agent single-handedly takes down Air Force One, kills all his agent buddies with zip-ties, and teams up with some nondescript brown-skinned, well spoken terrorist, who is extremely well funded and can get his hands on Chinese SAMs with ease. Meanwhile, back home they monitor the whole thing via satellite (with the most fantastic zoom you've ever seen), instead of contacting NORAD and the Finnish Government for support.

There is zero emotional content in this film. Like none at all in terms of connection between any of the characters in this film. It's super awkward when Samuel L. Jackson takes advice from this little boy or tries to act fatherly in any way. My favorite line is when they are both locked in the freezer and he says, to a grown ass black man; "It's time to stop looking tough, and it's time to start BEING tough." He says this... to SAMUEL FREAKING JACKSON... to his FACE. It is at this point that you can see Jackson's soul dying inside and weeping for the days when he starred in films like Pulp Fiction.

The protagonist himself is kind of a cute kid, I guess. He witnesses about 10 dead bodies, and 4 murders, and kills someone himself, so it's hard to support a film that enjoys exposing children to that level of violence.

I guess Finland really wanted to draw some attention to it's beautiful scenery (again the Alps are in Sweden), and folklore, but unfortunately it doesn't translate very well despite the big name actors and budget.

Awful, so skip it and watch... I dunno... RuPaul's drag race instead. At least that show has a 50 year old black man who is fun to watch.

1/5.