''Big Game'' is a 2014

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Jalmari Helander Jalmari Helander (born 21 July 1976) is a Finnish screenwriter and film director. He is known for the 2010 film '' Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'' (in which Cate Blanchett named it as one of her favorite movies) and the 2014 action-adventure ' ...

and written by Helander and Petri Jokiranta. The film stars

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

Onni Tommila Onni Tommila (born 18 July 1999) is a Finnish actor, known for the films ''Last Cowboy Standing'' (2009), '' Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'' (2010) and '' Big Game'' (2014). Tommila also appeared in the 2005 '. He was also the voice of Eetu in ...

Ray Stevenson George Raymond Stevenson (born 25 May 1964) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is known for playing Dagonet in the film ''King Arthur'' (2004) and Titus Pullo in the BBC/HBO television series ''Rome'' (2005–2007). He has portrayed two Marv ...

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

, Mehmet Kurtulus,

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Buffalo Bill (character), Buffalo Bill in the film ''The Silence of the Lambs (film), The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottle ...

Felicity Huffman Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. Huffman began her acting career in theatre, and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television. She starred as Dana Whitaker in the comedy-drama '' Spor ...

, and

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film ''Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for hi ...

. It is one of the most expensive Finnish films. Premiering at the

2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...

, the film was generally well received, with

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

calling it "a throwback to '80s and '90s adventure movie with a dash of comic book violence thrown in for good measure."

Plot

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...

is shot down by terrorists, leaving William Alan Moore, the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

, stranded in the wilderness of Finland. He has only one person around who can save him: a 13-year-old boy named Oskari. In the forest on a hunting mission to prove his maturity to his kinsfolk, Oskari plans to track down a deer, only to discover an escape pod that holds Moore. The pair must team up to escape the terrorists who are closing in to capture their own "Big Game" prize. The events are watched on satellite broadcast by

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

officials including the Vice President, the CIA director, and former CIA field operative Herbert who has been brought in as a consultant. Already feeling at a disadvantage as a hunter due to his father's reputation—who having hunted and defeated a bear on his own hunt—Oskari's faith is further shattered when he follows a map his father left him, eventually finding a portable refrigeration unit with a pre-killed deer head in it. Moore boosts Oskari's confidence by reminding him with his goal. They are subsequently confronted by Morris, a corrupt

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

agent who orchestrated the attack from aboard Air Force One—having become disillusioned with Moore after sustaining a bullet-wound that left a fragment of shrapnel near his heart—and Hazar, the mercenary who hired Morris to get Moore to him. Although Hazar puts Moore in the refrigeration unit and take him home to kill, Oskari regains his confidence by leaping onto it before the helicopter can carry away. Oskari drops the unit to a river. Discovering that the river leads to the lake where Air Force One crashed, Moore and Oskari swim inside the plane to wait for rescue. Hazar attacks them, sets a time bomb, and orders to kill the President rather than torture him for later execution. Moore kills Hazar before he and Oskari escape Air Force One via the ejector seats. Oskari shoots Morris with an arrow as the former bodyguard leans out of a helicopter to kill them. The arrow fails to penetrate the protective padding on Morris's chest, dislodging the shrapnel inside him to impale his heart. As Morris plummets, Air Force One explodes itself, destroying his helicopter and sending Moore and Oskari flying all the way back to the camp where the

Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...

team simultaneously arrives to search for Moore. With his acting as Oskari's 'prize', Moore assures Oskari's father that his son is the bravest man he has ever met. Oskari receives the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

for saving Moore's life. During a private discussion in the bathroom at the Pentagon, the Vice President and Herbert discover that Hazar was originally a CIA operative. His plan would have the President killed to inspire a new

war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

, but with his survival Moore becomes a hero instead. To ensure that nothing can be traced back to them, Herbert kills the Vice President by shoving him back against the sink.

Cast

as William Alan Moore,

as Oskari *

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the D ...

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

as General Underwood *

as Fred Herbert, a former CIA operative, advisor and head of the Terrorist Intel Unit. *

as Morris *

Mehmet Kurtuluş Mehmet Kurtuluş (born 27 April 1972) is a Turkish-German actor. He is best known for his work with German director Fatih Akin. Life and career Kurtuluş was born in Uşak, Turkey, and moved at the age of 18 months to Germany, where he grew up ...

as Hazar, a former CIA operative posing as a freelance terrorist.

Production

The film's budget was

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

8.5 million (equivalent to

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

10 million at the time), making it the most expensive film ever produced in Finland to that day. Although the wilderness adventures are portrayed to take place in Finnish Lapland, the outdoor footage in the film was filmed in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

and the rest were filmed in Germany.

Reception

Box office

''Big Game'' opened in Finland on 19 March 2015 at number 4, taking in $324,321 from 113 screens. The following week it dropped 38% to finish the weekend at number 2, with $199,996 from 103 screens. The film had made $1,420,000 (€1,271,847) as of 26 June 2015. As of 17 May 2015, the film had a worldwide total of $7,455,218.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a 78% approval rating, based on reviews from 88 critics, the critics consensus states "''Big Game's'' enthusiastic throwback vibe will appeal to fans of low-budget '80s action movies, but co-writer/director Jalmari Helander adds a level of smarts and skill that make it more than just an homage." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called it "A Presidential rescue tale that's ludicrous, in a good way." IGN called it "Goonies with guns".

Accolades

''Big Game'' received a nomination for Best DVD or Blu-ray Release at the 42nd Saturn Awards.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Game 2014 films Finnish action adventure films Finnish aviation films American action adventure films American aviation films English films British action adventure films German action adventure films 2010s English-language films English-language Finnish films English-language German films 2010s Finnish-language films 2010s action adventure films Films about fictional presidents of the United States Films about terrorism in Europe Films directed by Jalmari Helander Films set in Finland Films set in Lapland Films set in the United States Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Germany British aviation films Relativity Media films EuropaCorp films German aviation films Films about Air Force One 2014 multilingual films Finnish multilingual films American multilingual films British multilingual films German multilingual films 2010s American films 2010s British films 2010s German films