Big Game

When a young boy called Oskari is set to turn 14, he has to prove he is a man. The task set is very simple, go out hunting for two days. Find whatever is out there and bring it back. Dead. His father is a hunter supreme and was the first ever to come back with a full grown bear as his catch. So Oskari sets out into the wilderness. MEANWHILE US president William Allan Moore is travelling to a conference in Norway on Air Force One. While on his way an emergency caused by terrorists action sees him ejected from air force one and stranded in the Norweigen wilderness. Then along comes Oskari!

Nordic cinema and television is running away with a wide viewership. Much of the output is quality fair and in turn this has turned the Scandinavian countries film into an exploitation and Genre driven industry like Italian or Korean. So expect the whole kitchen sink to be thrown at us. Well,well, well....do not tell me I told you so. Big Game has hit us as if it were the sink and everything else had already been lobbed out the window. This is the sort of film that comes along when a screen writer, director, a star and an unseen (By American audiences) beautiful wilderness mix together. Finance flows to these pieces as they would to an investment in another Christopher Nolan movie. The idea is solid enough. By solid, I mean that the idea is in a sense a good excuse for action. Action that sees explosions, shooting, punching, comedy and violence galore. We have a few good one liners, fun and games from the lead and Jackson (They should have their own film next time where they kick ass without the exposition and the faff.) The surfing down a mountian in a freezer is very funny BTW.

The only problem is that the film is a gimmick that does not run the course. It slowly loses its air and it cant keep you going. What it can do is fill a Saturday night with a level of entertainment and fun that is always needed. I could see this on a Christmas holiday television screen. Outside of this I felt it would never have enough to make it worth sitting down to. I can see why many at the cinema gave it a miss. I can also see why it was less popular than expected. Fun and silly but empty and no return viewing make it a film that will be on the shelf and in cash converters before long.