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Thursday, May 2, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD BIG GAME
EDITOR'S PICK
'Big
Game' - likeable action drama (IANS Movie Review)
Rating:
***
With all the trappings of an adventure film that takes place within a time frame
of 24 hours, there is something charming about this outrageously fake tale which
is based on an original story written by Finnish director Jalmari Helander.
Set in the high mountainous terrain of rural Norway, the story, though
preposterous and bizarre, is plausible and layered with lessons of destiny;
amplifying the fact that 'you may not get what you plan, but what is in store
for you'.
The tradition of the land has it that the forest is a harsh judge. And to prove
their maturity, every male member of the clan, on the eve of their thirteenth
birthday, have to spend a night in the forest alone and he will be known as a
man with the catch he returns with.
Dogged with his family reputation of famed huntersand the fact that he can
barely shoot an arrow, 12-year-old Oskari is stressed at his rite of passage.
But family pride and prestige force him to prove his mettle. Goaded by his
father, he braces himself to undertake the mission and hopes to hunt a deer as a
trophy. But instead of capturing an animal, he lands up rescuing the president
of the US, who on his way to a summit in Helsinki, is forced to abort his flight
and crashland in the same forest.
The film belongs to Onni Tommila who plays the teenager Oskari. He is innocence
personified. His inciting moment, though fleetingly weak, is boosted with
perfect humour and high-octane action. It is amusing when he blatantly tells the
president that he does not recognise the president of America, and demands that
the president prove his claim. You also chuckle when the self-important
president unabashedly asks him: What is bigger than a national emergency?-- and
the boy simply states - My Birthday.
Samuel L. Jackson as the pampered and despondent President William Allan Moore
is perfunctory, intentionally so, as his character was designed in that manner.
Ray Stevenson, who plays the Secret Service Agent Morris, along with Mehmet
Kurtulus, as the psychopath Hazar injects some life into the drama.
The rest of the cast -- senior staffer (Felicity Huffman), CIA terrorist expert
(Jim Broadbent), military general (Ted Levine) and the VP (Victor Garber) at the
Pentagon, strategising the rescue operations, are all one-dimensional
characters.
The narrative is straightforward, simple and obviously predictable. Except for
some elevated and underwater action sequences, the treatment lacks adrenaline
rushing moments.
The visuals, by cinematographer Mika Orasmaa, are attractive, and so are the
sound effects. The moments are well-captured and his frames merge well with the
digital video effects. The top angle shot in the climax along with the plane
crash and the underwater sequences are impressive and are worth mentioning.
This one is worth a watch, even though you don't invest emotionally in the film.
