''Big Game'' is a 2014 action-

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by Jalmari Helander and written by Helander and Petri Jokiranta. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson, Victor Garber, Mehmet Kurtulus,

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Jame Gumb (Buffalo Bill) in the film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series ''Monk'' (2002–2009 ...

Felicity Huffman Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama ''Desperate Housewives'' and her role as Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne, a transgender woman, in the film ''Trans ...

, and

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades ...

. The film follows a 13-year-old boy named Oskari (Tommila) in his efforts to protect 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. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

William Alan Moore (Jackson) from terrorists who shot down

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

. ''Big Game'' is one of the most expensive Finnish films ever made. 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 (director), David Dobkin's film ''The Judge (2014 film), The Judg ...

, the film was generally well received, with ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming 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 district and is headed by its former e ...

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

Plot

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

, stranded in the wilderness of Finland. In the forest on a hunting mission to prove his maturity to his kinsfolk, a 13-year-old boy named 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.

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

officials including the

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, and a former CIA field operative Herbert, who has been brought in as a consultant, monitor the events through satellite broadcast. Already feeling at a disadvantage as a hunter due to the reputation of his father, who had 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 of his goal. They are subsequently confronted by 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 tasked with conducting criminal investigations and providing protection to American political leaders, thei ...

agent Morris, who orchestrated the attack from aboard Air Force One after sustaining a bullet wound that left a fragment of shrapnel near his heart, and a mercenary named Hazar. Although Hazar puts Moore into the refrigeration unit and takes him home to be killed, Oskari regains his confidence by leaping onto it before the helicopter can carry it away. Oskari drops the unit into 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 receives orders to kill the President rather than torture him for later execution. Moore kills Hazar before he and Oskari escape Air Force One using 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, but the impact still kills Morris by driving the shrapnel into his heart. As Morris plummets, Air Force One itself explodes, destroying his helicopter, and sending Moore and Oskari flying all the way back to the camp where a

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

team simultaneously arrives to search for Moore. For his actions as Oskari's "prize", Moore assures Oskari's father, Tapio, 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 Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

for saving Moore's life. During a private discussion in the bathroom at the Pentagon between the Vice President and Herbert, they learn that Hazar was originally a CIA operative. Their plan would have had the President killed to inspire a new war on terror, but with his survival, Moore becomes a hero instead, and the Vice President loses his attempt to become President. To ensure nothing can be traced back to them, Herbert kills the Vice President.

Awards

* In 2015, ''Big Game'' won the Finnish audiovisual export Hulda award granted by the Finnish Film & Audiovisual Export organization (Favex).

Cast

* Samuel L. Jackson as William Alan Moore,

* Onni Tommila 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. The director reports to the D ...

* Victor Garber as

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

as General Underwood *

as Fred Herbert, a former CIA operative, advisor, and head of the Terrorist Intel Unit * Ray Stevenson as Morris * Mehmet Kurtuluş as Hazar, a former CIA operative posing as a freelance terrorist * Jorma Tommila as Tapio, Oskari's father

Production

The film's budget was

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

8.5 million (equivalent to

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

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 () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

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 aggregator, 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 ...

, the film has a 78% approval rating, based on reviews from 88 critics, with critics consensus stating "''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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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."

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 English-language action adventure films 2010s Finnish films Ketchup Entertainment films