Director: Jalmari Helander
Cast: Onni Tommila, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Stevenson, Victor Garber, Jim Broadbent, Mehmet Kurtulus, Ted Levine, Jorma Tommila,Felicity Huffman.
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 90 minutes
Synopsis: Air Force One crashes down in a forest in Finland after a supposed terrorist attack, the president’s only chance of survival is a young boy on a hunting trip of self-discovery.
Jalmari Halander has a lot to answer for. After giving us one of the greatest Christmas films ever with his feature length debut RARE EXPORTS, it’s taken him five years to bring us this spiritual and tonally similar follow-up. BIG GAME is a child’s action film with a lot of 80s and 90s inspiration, and it’s absolutely marvellous.
As a child I was always more partial to a bit of adult orientated action along the lines of DIE HARD, CLIFFHANGER or AIR FORCE ONE, but whenever Hollywood attempts to do a solid action movie for kids, it usually comes across as childish, moronic, and more than a little condescending. BIG GAME suffers from none of that. Taking the lead once again, the magnificent Onni Tommila plays Oskari, a young boy about to head into the wilderness to prove himself as a hunter. Tommila perfects and expands upon his role from RARE EXPORTS as a child looking for acceptance from his father, once again played by his real life father, Jorma Tommila.
Meanwhile the President of the USA (Samuel L. Jackson) is having a tough time as his closest secret service agent (Stevenson) betrays him and leaves him stranded in the wilderness. Jackson is damn decent in his role and it’s great to see him playing a much more subdued role than usual. His President is not the action hero you may expect, and Jackson barely even yells. He’s very much the vulnerable victim of the film, and despite some early posturing he soon realises he must listen to his young companion if he wants to survive. The chemistry between Jackson and the younger Tommila is highly enjoyable, especially when it’s Tommila putting his foot down.
Helander makes this all work by putting a child at the forefront, facing issues that young boys on the brink of manhood can relate to, and thrusting them into an action scenario of real danger and threat. Stevenson’s angry and disillusioned secret service agent and the big game hunters of middle eastern origin lead by Kurtulus, are very well trained, scary, and could give Schwarzenegger and Stallone a run for their money in their prime (before Meerkat Movies and Warburtons adverts).
Its punchy 90 minutes means it is far too short, but also means you’ll be wanting to return again and again, just as RARE EXPORTS did before. This is fun and silly stuff, but never stupid. At the end of the day, the heart of the film wins through and will reinvigorate the childhood wonderment and urge for adventure. The entire cast is on top form, although the only female (Huffman) is wasted and not even given a character name. Beautiful shots of Finland, real threat, memorable action sequences, and just a damn fun time. This should be a B-Movie summer hit.
BIG GAME is in cinemas now!
