Rotten Tomatoes: 75% Big Game's appearance here is surprising to say the least, as there were a healthy number of critics who really didn't enjoy it. Lambasted as being cliched and too parodic of 90s action movies, it's been argued that the film's plotline concerning President Samuel L. Jackson being dropped into the woods of Lapland and hunted for sport by a maniacal oil baron (Jim Broadbent, woefully miscast) and helped by a young local lad on a rite of passage was, in fact, wasted. While it's easy to judge a film on its failings, there was plenty to be enjoyed from Big Game. A fair few comedy beats land well, and there's some startling imagery throughout the film, showing director Jalmari Helander's propensity for startling shots, as evidenced by his previous effort Rare Exports. One scene involving a field full of Secret Service agents who have shuffled loose their mortal coil thanks to a lack of actual working parachutes sticks in the mind, Helander's morbidity combining with his keen eye for a memorable shot. In the end, you'll come for cute back-and-forth between Jackson and his pre-teen saviour, and you'll stay for the inventive shootout that closes out the film. Die Hard-in-the-woods it may be (with lashings of Air Force One, obviously), but it remains an interesting aside in a year with too many more-obviously-by-the-numbers routines infesting cinemas. Minus ten points if you mistake Jim Broadbent for actually being American, though.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
