#211: Surviving the Game
Release Date: April 15th, 1994
Format: Streaming (Tubi)
Written by: Eric Bernt
Directed by: Ernest R. Dickerson
3 Stars
What I appreciate about Surviving the Game is that it cuts right to the chase. You’ll know if you’ll like this movie or not in the first two minutes, because to put it simply, Surviving the Game is 100% a “dad” movie. It’s a dad movie like Under Siege is a dad movie, or Taken is a dad movie, or Training Day or Die Hard or The Fugitive.
What’s a dad movie? You know one when you see it. They usually don’t have female characters or complex themes, but they do have guns or explosions, or preferably both. And a classic dad movie primarily deals with masculinity, and acting honorably in the face of fear. Dads love that kind of stuff.
This dad movie definition captures Surviving the Game perfectly. The story is simple. It’s another one of those retellings of “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell’s classic short story in which a wealthy hunter tires of killing big game and decides to hunt his fellow man instead.
In this version, Ice T plays the hunted, a homeless man named Mason who is tricked into flying to a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest wilderness and then forced to survive in the woods, unarmed, while he is stalked by Thomas Burns (played with relish by Rutger Hauer), a wealthy and deranged businessman out for blood, literally.
And he’s not alone. What makes Surviving the Game truly special is its ensemble cast of character actors who join Burns in his human hunt. Each performance is dialed to a ‘10’ and completely unhinged. Charles S. Dutton, F. Murray Abraham, John C. McGinley, and Gary Busey are bananas in this thing. Mind you the accolades of these gentlemen, too. Between these men are two Lead Actor Oscar nominations (with one win), seven Lead Actor Emmy nominations (with three wins), and a Golden Globe win. These guys are the New York Knicks, but in Surviving the Game, they are allowed to play like the Harlem Globetrotters for the night. It’s a lot of fun watching them.
It’s also my favorite Ice T performance as well, and I say that with zero irony. He really carries the heart of the movie. He has a righteous anger that works, and he’s believably tough. This role could have easily gone to Stallone or Schwarzenegger, but I don’t think either of them would have been as good, frankly. That seems unbelievable, but I think it’s true.
The movie is a tidy 96 minutes long (but would benefit from being even tidier), the action scenes are effective (but not excellent), and it’s got a fun, sensational plot that would feel right at home in a classic ‘50s B movie (yes, that means plenty of schlock).
Maybe it is a B movie, but it’s most assuredly a great dad movie.
Postscript: Can Surviving the Game be reclaimed by the critics and film snobs for its underlying themes involving social class disparity and race? Don’t tell the dads, but there might be some interesting subtexts here.
