''Game of Death'' is a 2010 American

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by Giorgio Serafini, and starring

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...

Zoë Bell Zoë E. Bell (born 17 November 1978) is a New Zealand Stunt performer, stuntwoman and actress. Some of her most notable stunt-work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless in ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' and for Uma Thurman in ''Kill Bill''. As an act ...

Gary Daniels Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor and martial artist. Originally a kickboxer fighting out of London and Tampa Bay, Daniels earned his first acting credits with Philippine companies. He gained wider recognition in the mang ...

and

Robert Davi Robert John Davi (born June 26, 1951) is an American actor, singer, and filmmaker. Over the course of his acting career, Davi has performed in more than 130 films. Among his most known roles are opera-singing Jake Fratelli in '' The Goonies'' (19 ...

. The film was released on

direct-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strateg ...

in the United States on February 15, 2011.

Plot

The story is told in flashback. CIA agent Marcus Jones recounts his final mission in the form of a confession to a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest. The mission begins when Jones's mentor in the CIA, Dietrich, informs him that his next assignment is to gather intelligence for the possible prosecution of American citizens Frank Smith, an arms dealer, and John Redvale, a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

manager. Jones succeeds in being hired as Smith's bodyguard and accompanies Smith to the Redvale building, where Smith is supposed to obtain $100 million in cash. Unknown assailants attack the vehicle in which Smith and Jones are travelling. While Jones is distracted, Dietrich, flying above them in a helicopter with several other CIA agents, discovers that the others are traitors when they kill him. They are after the $100 million. Jones and Smith survive the attack partly because Smith has a heart attack just as it begins. The driver is killed; Jones takes the wheel, loses the killers, and drives Smith to

Detroit Medical Center The Detroit Medical Center (DMC) is a for-profit alliance of hospitals that encompasses over 2,000 licensed beds, 3,000 affiliated physicians and over 12,000 employees. Located in Midtown Detroit, the DMC is affiliated with medical schools fr ...

, where he is provided with lifesaving care. The CIA traitors show up and begin killing hospital staff. Jones, the primary target of the killers, eludes them and manages to take several of them out until Floria takes him prisoner and takes him to new team leader Zander. However, Jones is knocked unconscious and left to take the blame for deaths, while Smith is taken, along with a doctor to meet Redvale so that the killers can get his $100 million. Redvale decides the best course of action is to let the killers have the money, then hunt them down and kill them many years later. Meanwhile, Jones steals an ambulance and drives to Redvale's building to save the doctor and eliminate his former team members. Accomplishing both of these missions, Jones then eludes scores of Detroit Police Department officers and escapes with a bag which contains approximately $25 million. As Jones leaves the cathedral and the priest to whom he made confession, he leaves the bag behind. Walking past the basketball court, a young man tosses a basketball to him, which reminds Jones that he is forgiven.

Cast

as Marcus Jones *

Aunjanue Ellis Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor (; Ellis; born February 21, 1969) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe ...

as Rachel *

as Floria *

Ernie Hudson Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. Hudson has also acted in the films ''Leviathan'' (1989), '' The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (19 ...

as Clarence * Quinn Duffy as John Redvale *

as Zander *

as Frank Smith *

Ron Balicki Ron Balicki (born September 2, 1963) is an American actor, martial artist and stuntman for various films and television series. He is also a well known martial arts practitioner, teacher, and author. He is a student of and son-in-law to Dan In ...

as Jimmy

Production

''Game of Deaths original director was

Abel Ferrara Abel Ferrara (; born July 19, 1951) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best ...

, for whom Snipes had appeared previously in ''

King of New York ''King of New York'' is a 1990 neo-noir crime film directed by Abel Ferrara and written by Nicholas St. John. It stars Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo and Wesley Snipes, with supporting roles played by Gianc ...

''. Ferrara left the project during filming, however, and Serafini replaced him. The reasons for Ferrara's departure were never divulged, and how much, if any, of his footage remains in the finished film is not publicly known.

Release

The film was released in the United States on

. Sony released the film in Japan on November 27, 2010, and in the United States February 15, 2011, where it grossed $4.3 million in video sales. Optimum Home Entertainment released it in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2011.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 46% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 2.5/5. Ian Jane of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote, "''Game Of Death'' is not a film in the least bit concerned with strong characters or even believability but it does offer up enough mindless action and violence to keep and hold the pace." David Johnson of

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose revie ...

called it "a mediocre thriller highlighted by some nifty pugilism". Jamie Russell of ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and of ...

'' rated it 2/5 stars and called it "your standard CIA-Mafia-doublecrossing-flashback nonsense".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Game Of Death 2010 films 2010 action thriller films American action thriller films American martial arts films American chase films Films set in Detroit Voltage Pictures films 2010 martial arts films 2010s chase films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language action thriller films