Big Game
Director: Jalmari Helander
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson
110 mins; Class PG;
KRS Releasing Ltd
The premise of the US president (Samuel L Jackson) crashing in the Finnish wilderness and being rescued by a timid young boy while being hunted by assassins makes for a good film.
Yet, the end result is a rather lukewarm film which can’t quite decide whether it’s a children’s adventure story (albeit a rather violent one) or loud and explosive action-adventure.
A day before his 13th birthday, Oskari (Onni Tommila), prepares to carry out a rite-of-passage tradition of his forefathers, in which he must spend a day and night alone in the wilderness armed only with bow and arrow, to bring home a kill that will prove his manhood to his father, a renowned hunter.
In the meantime, the president is on Air Force One on his way to a summit in Helsinki when an elaborately staged attack on the aircraft forces him to seek refuge in an escape pod which takes him to safety, landing just metres away from Oskari. The man and boy must then use all their wits to evade the men hell-bent on killing the president.
Cardboard characters
With cardboard characters it is difficult to really care much about; bog standard action sequences (with a couple of admittedly exciting ones); a straightforward, if unchallenging, narrative and dollops of predictability, Big Game never quite hits its mark.
The characters are very thinly drawn. It is surprising how little Jackson does with his rather weak, charisma-free president.
The bad guys, including Ray Stevenson’s Secret Service agent-with-a-grudge and the rather clichéd terrorist Hazar (Mehmet Kurtulus), sneer unconvincingly throughout.
In the meantime, back at the Pentagon, CIA director (Felicity Huffman), the vice president (Victor Garber) and the US military head General Underwood (Ted Levine) ineffectually try to trace the plane and their boss. They have brought in veteran CIA agent Herbert (Jim Broadbent complete with a rather suspect accent) for advice, which he provides while chewing on a sandwich.
It is Tommila who actually comes out top in the acting stakes, the young actor truly capturing the boy’s initial fear and anxiety as he sets out on an adventure he is clearly unprepared for, while having to grow up very fast as events unfold. His is a believable arc and it is him who we truly root for as the adults around him scramble to make something out of the big game they are trying to play.