Review of Surviving the Game (1994) by Daniel S — 15 Dec 2007

'90's action-film adaptation of the 'Most Dangerous Game'. Low-Budget and somewhat schlocky, but also a lot of fun. Ice-T plays a homeless man who's offered one of those jobs that's too good to be true by a kindly priest (Rutger Hauer)--working as a servant for a hunting expedition into the woods.

Unfortunately for Ice-T he's not the hired help--Hauer actually represents a band of rich folk who get their kicks from hunting the down-and-out through the woods on ATV's and killing them, so that they can feel alive.

Important life lesson from this movie, #8932: If Rutger Hauer ever offers you a job, do NOT take it. The standout of the cast is Gary Busey as a crazed doctor, who gives one of the most intense, uncomfortable monologues I've ever seen in a hollywood film in this movie, and then gets blown up by Ice-T a few minutes later.

The gonzo energy level of the film drops down a few notches after his exit, but the rest of the cast make solid antagonists as well--Hauer is spooky, Charles S. Dutton plays his aimiable crooked-cop sidekick, John C.

McGinley does his usual solid slimey work, but the highlight is probably F. Murray Abraham and Jeff Corey as a father/son duo who are along on the expedition because the proud papa wants his son to become a man and finally murder his first homeless man.

Said son is a sensitive sort and he starts to feel bad about ice-t's plight as the hunters stalk him through the woods, though not so bad as to cross pop. Their bickering, and the bemused reactions of the other hunters, is nearly as odd as Busey's ranting, and it almost seems as if they've wandered in from a different movie.