SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

veenboer-878-467899 I liked this movie very much! They should make more of them. Not only for the idea of a hunted man who is given the opportunity to survive the game by giving him a head start. What I especially like is the humour which is put in almost every scene. I guess it was done intentionally, but I'm not sure.. I laughed throughout the whole movie. The characters and dialogs are all over the top, but not in that matter that it;s not believable anymore.Rutger says to Mason: How many cigarettes do you smoke a day? Mason: As many as I can get my hands on. Rutger: then you are not suited for the vacancy, we need a fit person. If you can run on the mill for 30 minutes you get 20 dollars. Mason start to run and gets 20 dollars and has the job. The last supper in the wooden house in the forest is absolutely hilarious. The father who wants to make his son a man by taking him on a manhunt, great humour!

videorama-759-859391 There are other films like this, one action spectacular, starring Van Damne around the same time, which I won't mention. The plot is straight forward. Homeless guy, Mason (very well played by Ice T, who inhabits his pathetic lonely character totally) after attempting to kill himself, is thrown a proposition, from his supposed savior (Charles L Dutton) to partake in a hunting expedition way up in the desolate wilderness. It is led by seedy hunting guide (Hauer, in great form as always) only he's the prey of Hauer, and his cronies. It's frightening to think this would happen for real, which this is the disturbing element of this nicely flowed film, with a sort of getting to know you scene, first, set around the dinner table. Ohll, I'm getting hungry. As dawn breaks, the hunt begins, only they of course, didn't count on Mason outsmarting them with some impressive and inventive traps, where you wouldn't think a character like him, would be capable of such smarts. But don't judge a book by it's cover. John McGinley was notably fantastic, as a real intense nutball of the group. His character might of seemed overacted, but it isn't. That's who this guy really is, and he does have it in for the black fellas. Ice T really holds his own here, playing a type, he doesn't normally play. I strongly felt the weakest performance, was that of William Mcnamara, as the reluctant son of F Murray Abraham where I've seen better acting from him too. The movie plays well on suspense, as it doesn't go straight in for the kill, and is unpredictable in bits, as to Ice T's wants and actions. The tying up loose end bit, was grand, as was the last bit of dialogue. Good B grade actioner, that entertained me wholly. You don't want to pass this baby up.

Coventry The "manhunt" action/suspense premise may perhaps be nearly as old as cinema itself, but it's also one that practically always guarantees a bloody good time! I've seen several film versions of the hunting-humans concept and loved them all; except for one (the abominable 60's bore "Bloodlust!"). Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack's original 30's classic "The Most Dangerous Game" undoubtedly remains the greatest version, but I particularly love how there exist numerous variations on the theme, like an excessively violent one set on a futuristic prison island ("Blood Camp Thatcher") or a super-sleazy one where they exclusively hunt scarcely dressed girls (Eddie Romero's "The Woman Hunt"). "Surviving the Game" is a rather rudimentary re-working of the premise, but nonetheless a very effective one with a downright awesome cast listing and a handful of genuine shocks. Jack Mason is an embittered and suicidal homeless man who loses his last will to live when both his dog and best friend in one day. The sly businessman Thomas Burns lures Mason to the wilderness with a false job promise, but instead he and his maniacal rich friends simply intend to hunt down Mason like an animal and kill him for sports. Mason may be suicidal, but he still wants to decide for himself when he dies, and so he successfully fights back. "Surviving the Game" is quite a gruesome and nihilistic-toned film; definitely not for people with vulnerable stomachs. The violence is pretty gratuitous and served without any form of morality, but what else do you expect from a B-movie. As indicated above, the film's main trump is the cast and particularly because each and every cool actor depicts a marvelously eccentric character. I can't even pick a favorite performance between F. Murray Abraham (as a sinister Wall Street big shot), Gary Busey (as an out-and-out deranged FBI psychiatrist), the overacting John C. McGinley (as a frustrated hunter with a vengeance) or of course Rutger Hauer as the mega-bastard. Ernest Dickerson – formerly a skilled cinematographer – does an admirable job directing his first long feature and he went on making the vastly entertaining Tales from the Crypt movie "Demon Knight". The forestry filming locations are impressive, the story doesn't contain any dull or unnecessary padding sequences and the level of suspense is continuously kept high. I don't know about you but that's everything I look for in an action movie.

DarkStar84 This is an interesting film all right. The story takes it's inspiration from the Richard Connell 1924 short story 'Suriving the Game'. It's not a new idea, but it's one of the best takes on it.Anyway, on to the meat of the story. The main character is the homeless Jack Mason (Ice-T) who quickly decided that he's sick of life. However, he's saved in the nick of time by a seemingly well-meaning man named Cole (playerd by the incomparable Charles S. Dutton). Cole managed to convince Mason to give life another try by offering him a job. The stories a little slow in the beginning, but things start picking up when Mason goes for the interview and meets the man he'll be working for, Burns (Rutger Hauer of Ladyhawk fame.) Mason manages to land the job and a few scenes later he's in the wilderness. This is where the story really starts rolling- we get to meet the remaining four characters of the story. The group includes nut-job Doc Hawkins, played by Gary Busy. Wolfe Sr. (F. Murray Abraham) a wall street cutthroat, and his naive son Wolfe Jr.. The last person we get to meet is Griphon (John C. McGinley, Dr. Cox from 'Scrubs')who seems ready to flip out at any moment.Well, dinner commences and everyone get to know each other, and Mason goes to bed... Only to wake up with gun in his face. We knew this would happen, but it's just as fun to see him tossed out into the wilderness amidst threats and jeers from everyone (save for Jr- who's freaking out). Mason is left with little choice but to run like hell as the hunters have breakfast.What I like about this story is that each of the hunters aren't 2D killers- they've all got complex back stories and both their's and Mason's are woven into the story as it progresses... Hawkins and Griphon argue over who'll get Mason first while Wolfe browbeats his son into going along ("He's a homeless piece of trash. Nothing... less then nothing!") The group sets out on ATVs and motorcycles, brandishing everything from automatic shotguns to crossbows.However, like the novella, the prey turns out to be a little better than they expected. Cole and Burns smile (in their own subtext riddled way)- declaring that Mason's doubled back to the cabin... something that's never happened before.Sufice to say, the group burst into the Cabin. Hawkins and Wolfe Sr. rush inside just as Burns realizes it's a trap. The cabin explodes (thanks to a trap set by Mason)as the hunters narrowly gets out... There's a great moment where Hawkins tries to kill Mason. "I like my meat rare!" Only to have things turned on him as he's thrown back into the cabin as Mason utters "try well done!" However, as the men take note of the situation, they discover that Hawkins has been killed. Burns smiles and remarks "This is where it gets good." ...And it does! The remaining men set after Mason. Jr continues to try and get the hell out of this situation, but his father is set on making a man out of him ("You're not going to embarrass me.")They start splitting up when they get a whiff of Mason, only to fall for another trick. This time, it's Griphon who get's waylaid by Mason.The hunters continue after Mason. Burns makes it clear that he's more concerned with getting Mason then rescuing Griphon. Eventually, Griphon returns, remarking that he was let go but has no idea where Mason went (now armed with HIS Shotgun. Griphon want's out- he's ready to get his act together and leave. But Burns lets Cole shoot him- who's grinning the whole time! Jr flips out at this point and his father attempts to calm him down- trying to pin both deaths on Mason's shoulders! A potshot at the group tips Burns and Cole off to Mason's whereabouts. The three of them had been trading insults (over little headsets) back in forth amusingly, till Cole gets feat up with it and hops onto his ATV- triggering one of the raddest deaths on screen. (Mason had jimmied with the thing earlier)Cole's death sets off Burns, who'd been having a ball up till that moment. He's tired of the game- he want's Mason dead.There's a nice exchange between Sr and Jr. "...It wasn't supposed to be like this." "How the F*ck was it supposed to be?!" The two of them follow Burns more out of fear then any desire to hunt.For the entire film, the music has been solid, the editing great, and the shooting set to vivid cephia tones and arrays of greens. But the visuals get really cool when night falls (by this point, a trap had killed Jr and Wolfe openly remarks "after we kill Mason, I'm going to settle things with you." Burns just grins at this and welcomes the death challenge). Everything is set in strong blacks and dark blues as the two men wait for Mason to come after them...And he does! Wolfe, starts freaking out even more and throws his gun away- challenging Mason to a fight. The bit where he turns around in time to see Ice-T's ghostly face point blank is brilliant! ...The movie should have ended in the woods. With it down to Burns and Mason, the confrontation would have been more then enough. This is really the biggest weakness of the film is the '2nd ending' aspect. Abraham has an academy award, but overacts in a couple of scenes (one of them critical to his character!) The "cave scene" is rather silly, but forgivable. Still, it's a good movie for the most part and fun to watch.