Big Game

8th May 2015 18:40 Bolton

From the opening scene I felt like I had been transported back to the early 90's to an era of Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, Broken Arrow, Die Hard with A Vengeance, and it felt good.

Samuel L Jackson is the President of the United States who finds himself lost in the wilderness of Finland after Air Force One is shot down by terrorists.  He is found by a local boy who is out to prove he is a man by returning to his village with his right-of-passage.  Hot on their heels are the terrorists out for big game hunting and a turncoat secret service member with a vengeance.

The whole film took me back to the big hero, big adventure action movies I grew up with. An over the top plot, crazy but likable action sequences and one big boom at the end.  The visual effects felt like they were done in this era to.  The big explosion at the end must have take all the special effects budget as the green screen scenes were just terrible, but this made it just that little bit better. With the young hero atop a fridge hanging from a helicopter the background seemed to be that of a 50's car sequence, but I just loved it

The kid (Onni Tommila) is just brilliant - very entertaining, very well acted and endearing as well

It does feel a little empty in places, the bad guys aren't that big and there is a major opening in the end 10 minutes that I am unsure why it was left like this (Jim Broadbent!)

This is one of those films that can be great entertainment for a younger audience, but nostalgic for the older bunch (my era), a film that you can put on a Saturday night and not worry about spandex wearing super-heroes with dark history's, just great fun.

I left the cinema with a smile on my face, but wondering about the ending.  I will not spoil it for you, but surely there should be some kind of comeuppance for someone!?