Recensioni degli utenti

I like this movie, it's not the best action movie, but is very good. The movie doesn't have the best acting and the writing and the beginning is so-so, but it picks up and gets a lot better as the movie goes on. If you ever feel like watching a solid action movie, I say pick this one up. Or if you just want to watch crazy Gary Busey act like Gary Busey.

This movie is about a homeless man (ICE T) that loses everything twice. Then takes a job with some business men (Rutger Hauer and Charles S. Dutton) to help hunt in a isolated place. Ice T soon finds out that they are hunting a deadlier game...

This movie is well worth the rental fee. You might surprise yourself and like it.

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.

In one of our local video store chains, if a movie was considered morally objectionable it was emblazoned with a huge yellow sticker which proclaimed that it was 'Strictly over 18's'. To me, as a youngster, this was like showing a light bulb to a moth. By the time 'Surviving the Game' was released, I was already a seasoned Ice-T and Bodycount fan and so would happily devour any of the nonsensical films which he would associate himself with (a trait which still exists to a certain degree, albeit somewhat diminished at this stage – thanks a lot 'Leprechaun In Da Hood'). Those yellow stickers never failed me; they drew me to movies such as the Tom Savini remake of Night of the Living Dead (1990), Body Melt (1993) and Bad Taste (1987). The peculiar thing about 'Surviving the Game' was that it was only classified with a 15 certificate in the UK, but as I was growing up in Ireland and they had just introduced their own film classification system (one which still prohibits the release of many, many titles today*) one can only assume that they were being extra vigilant.

Such vigilance, however, was not displayed by any staff members at any of my frequented VHS rental outlets and so I was pretty much free to choose whatever I wanted and on one fine day I took the afternoon off school and retreated to my abode to wallow in some Ice-T based goodness.

I regret none of those actions and this all came flooding back when I re-watched STG last week. The first thing that struck me was the plethora of character actors on show, Charles S. Dutton, Ernest R. Dickerson, F. Murray Abraham, Gary Busey, Jack Mason, John C. 'Dr Cox' McGinley and Rutger Hauer all come out in force as a group of hunters in pursuit of the deadliest game of all…man.

The man in question is Jack Mason (Ice-T) a man battling his demons to the extent that he has lost everything, his wife, his child, his home. Now living rough on the streets of Seattle, he even loses his best friend when his dog is run over by a careless taxi driver in the first few minutes of the movie. The altercation with the driver brings Mason to the attention of Walter Cole (Dutton), a man posing as a charity worker, but who is in reality a recruitment officer for Thomas Burns (Hauer), an entrepreneur who facilitates the immoral bloodlusts of the rich and ethically vacuous Mason is brought to Burns' offices whereupon he is offered a job (with very little details provided), he reluctantly accepts and before he knows it, he's held up in a remote cabin in the wilderness with half a dozen of the most peculiar characters you're likely to see share a dinner together. It doesn't take long before their motives are made clear and Mason is cast out on his own, given a small head start before being tracked by the hunters.

Guess what? The hunters soon become the hunted and the tables get well and truly turned. OK, so it sounds dreadful and in many ways, it is. Yet, it is so enjoyably dreadful that you soon find yourself letting go and immersing yourself in Mason's plight. There is an intensity and a unique self-awareness which makes this stand out from similar movies and eventually, this makes this a remarkably endearing viewing experience.

It's violent without being excessively so, it has just the right amount of humour to maintain a suspension of disbelief and by the time comeuppance is delivered, you'll be cheering along. It was refreshing to see a strong African-American lead actor at the time and whist one wouldn't go as far as to call it ground-breaking in any sense of the word, that fact is certainly notable. Ice-T is quite far removed from his hip-hop persona and suits the crusty, dreadlocked role very well. Hauer and Busey are typically and wonderfully bonkers and the support of Abraham and McGinley are both worthy additions.

It was a pleasure to be reminded of a time when action movies could be so enjoyable and when character actors would partake in the movie without dominating it. Admittedly, the rush that I got for simply acquiring it wasn't there this time, but I think that was due to the lack of the yellow sticker.

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Entertaining movie, especially for the fans of the short story, The Most Dangerous Game. Rapper/Actor Ice-T (Richochet, New Jack City) is a homeless man hired by a bunch of rich people to help them in their hunt. Soon he realizes that he is the prey. The rich hunters are led by Rutger Hauer (Nighthawks, Mr. Stich). The hunters are equipped with different types of guns and smaller vehicles, while Ice-T is forced to use his street smarts to beat them in the secluded wilderness. The other hunters include Gary Busey (Point Break, Lost Highway), F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Mimic), Charles S. Dutton (Rudy, Alien 3), and John McGilney (The Rock, Nothing To Lose). This is a fast paced movie, although the first half hour is mainly character development for Ice-T. It is very entertaining, the script's dialogue is fairly poor, but who cares in an action movie. Ice-T does a good job at making you want him to win. Rutger Hauer, Charles S. Dutton, F. Murray Abraham are all good at being evil, but the best performance of the bad guys is John McGilney who has an extra reason to want to kill a homeless man. The movie is a solid hour and a half of entertainment, but don't be expecting anything more.

I just saw this movie for the first time since it's release in 1994 and while it's not as good as what I initially remembered it to be, it's still a decent popcorn flick to watch when there's nothing else on (which is usually most days of the week).

The basic premise for the film is a pretty good - yet simple - one (even if it's not all that original now) and asks the question - can a homeless man put his "street-smart" knowledge to good use and survive being hunted if put into the wilderness? Well, that's exactly what ends up happening to Jack Mason (Ice-T)...a man who's been surviving on the streets but is given an opportunity at a job to help out with a hunting party. Unbeknown to him, though, HE is the prey. Like I said, the premise is good, but is it realistic to think that a homeless person can survive in the wilds as well just because they are "street smart"? Maybe, maybe not, and probably the latter, but this isn't a film about realism....it's about entertainment and for the most part it does just that. It does get a bit predictable as well, but like I say, this film is about entertainment...not plot twists or a deeply thought-provoking story.

The cast is a pretty decent one as well, even if some of the performances are slightly OTT. However, it's not too bad and it's not enough to ruin the enjoyment of the movie. The main "culprit" of this is Gary Busey, but we all know what he was like when he was in movies...usually loud & in your face type of performances, and it's no different here. Also, love him or hate him, Ice-T does a decent job too as Jack Mason, and does a pretty convincing job of playing a down and out homeless guy who's got nothing left to live for.

The film is by no means a cinematic masterpiece, but it does it's job for about an hour and a half.

So if you don't mind films having some OTT performances and predictable story's that have a sprinkling of cheese, then you might enjoy Surviving The Game.

Surviving the Game came traipsing in a year after Jean-Claude Van Damme's much more popular Hard Target. Both films featured down-on-their-luck men being used as human prey for rich. bloodthirsty psycho's desperate for the thrill of the kill. Ice-T is a good actor, but not in this film he ain't. Though he still out-performs JCVD as the man on the lam.

T plays Jack Mason, a Seattle hobo plucked from the streets and given a job in the wilderness. Without asking any serious questions or growing suspicious he sheepishly accepts the offer. Upon arriving at a remote forest cabin (actually Lake Wenatchee Airport, if you don't mind me spoiling the magic) he meets a bunch of wealthy weirdos and is well fed and watered. When he wakes the next morning Mason discovers that his job is to run as fast as he can back to civilization.

Director Earnest Dickerson has no control over his cast and allows them to overact to ludicrous degrees. F. Murray Abraham, Oscar or no Oscar, has no idea what he's doing. Gary Busey turns up, goes mental, and then exits (a stupid mistake as he's the most interesting character). John C. McGinley goes over the edge with the minimal of back-story, which only just starts getting interesting before he too exits. It's like they actually wanted to strip the film of any engaging substance.

They try to inject some kind of subtext with the character names. Mason is the everyday working man. He is hunted by men called Hawkins, Griffin, Mr. Wolf and Wolf Jnr. He is employed by men called Cole and Burns, and taken to a place called Hell's Canyon. If writer Eric Bernt was trying to be clever it's lost in the bumbling incompetence that cripples the action scenes.

The whole film is shot like a cheap TV movie, which is twice a let-down as Dickerson himself is a former cinematographer who really ought to know better. The editing is a joke (dead characters mysteriously reappear in some shots as well as the fact that both day AND night seem to last all of two minutes out in the wilderness). The dialogue is terrible, and frequently badly ADR-ed as a quick fix to the consistently poor narrative. A sense of place and location is apparently irrelevant...

What does STG have in its favor? Um...nice music and pleasant scenery. In a film with a wide cast of character actors playing psychos in a story that has been the inspiration for many other action movies that's a pretty disappointing couplet when you're trying hard to recommend it. Stewart Copeland's score IS very good though, and I'm surprised it's not on CD. And the lovely hills and mountains of the Pacific-Northwest will no doubt inspire you to go out for a summertime hike.

Surviving the Game could have been great, but is merely an incredibly dumb, badly-directed pot-boiler, and a massive guilty pleasure.

There are a few effective concepts in action films which are used over and over again. "Surviving the Game" uses one which was over 60 years old when the movie was made and still works like a charm. Made in 1932, "The Most Dangerous Game" is a movie about a group of people who are hunted for sport. Over the years this concept has been successfully used in big films like John Woo's "Hard Target" (which premiered less than a year before this film) as well as in DTV-films like the Lorenzo Lamas-actioner "Final Round".

The formula works. Although these films rarely offer anything new (you pretty much know the ending before the film has even started), they are very entertaining if the hero is someone who you want to win and the villains are suitably evil. "Surviving the Game" fills this order and throws in some energetic action sequences directed by Ernest R. Dickerson (I also enjoyed his "Bulletproof" a lot).

Ice-T is the hero here. When the film starts, he has no money, no family, no friends and is ready to kill himself. But when he receives a job as a hunting guide from a wealthy businessman (played by Rutger Hauer), he wants to put his life in order again. But after a good meal where Ice meets the rest of the hunters (including Gary Busey and Charles Dutton), the hunt begins and he suddenly realizes that he's the prey. Now, he must use all his strength and wit to survive.

The cast is perfect. While there are no huge stars, these people know the genre and obviously had a great time filming this movie. And there isn't any fault in the production values either. There are beautiful sceneries, a good score by Stewart Copeland and some neat stunts. The script by Eric Bernt (Virtuosity, Romeo Must Die) creates some quite interesting villains and the dialogue, while not perfect, works reasonably well. Luckily Bernt knows that he's writing an action film and doesn't even try to include any deep relationships or hidden meanings in his script.

At the end of the day, this is a good action film which is guaranteed to entertain a fan of this genre for 90 minutes. It's not the best action film ever but it's definitely above-average. This one gets an 8.

Released in 1994, Surviving the Game follows Mason, a down on his luck homeless man who after a botched suicide attempt is offered a job as a wilderness guide for a wealthy and enigmatic group of huntsmen, however when he arrives he discovers that he is in fact the one being hunted and the fight for survival ensues.

The movie had the unfortunate timing of being released about 5 months after the similarly themed and much bigger budgeted Hard Target so Surviving the Game went mostly ignored at the box office but did attract the odd bit of praise from a few critics such as Gene Siskel. Ice-T does a fantastic job in the lead of this action thriller bringing to the role hard edged cynicism with an undercurrent of repressed pain and sadness that's made his will to continue with his hardscrabble life more and more of a challenge. However this is still very much an action movie and what's an action movie without compelling villains? Luckily the film has its villains well taken care of as the hunting party is comprised of a veritable who's who of character actors such as Rutger Hauer, John C. McGinely, Charles S. Dutton, and even F. Murray Abraham playing their roles with intensity and enthusiasm to spare.

The action set pieces are also quite thrilling as we see Mason use his wits and surrounding environment to try to stay alive and maintain whatever advantage he can grasp over his would be killers. The movie unfortunately does lose a bit of momentum and credibility in its final twenty minutes thanks to some less than perfect staging(including a fight sequence that takes place in darkness that makes it very difficult to see what's going on), some sloppy editing work, and a final confrontation that doesn't give much explanation as to how a character made it from point A to B when not only was B very far away but he logically shouldn't have even know where B was.

But despite some hiccups , Surviving the Game is an effective and exciting chase movie with engaging performances and set pieces that makes it a welcome addition to the expansive list of films inspired by The Most Dangerous Game.

Had the original casting idea been kept (hunting Rutger, not Ice-T), this movie might have worked. Sadly, racism had to come into the picture (literally) and mess it up. The predominantly black production staff couldn't allow the antagonist be black, so they swapped Rutger's and Ice-T's roles. This was only the start of the downward spiral of this film. Ernest Dickerson's news-room approach to 'directing' only verified that this was another affirmative-action job assignment. Master shot, close up, close up. Gads, 'Who's Line Is It Anyway' even uses more creative camera work. Eric's rewrite of 'The Most Dangerous Game' is at least an attempt at modernizing the classic tale, but fails to give us any motivations for why the characters are doing this. We are never given the reasons, other than "no one will miss these people", why the leader (re-written as Rutger) does these things. Aside from a heart-felt performance by John McGinley, and a fair job by Charles Dutton, do not bother with this one. One small bit of trivia, there was a real drunk-driving accident during filming that injured F.Murray Abraham, and resulted in the death of the intoxicated young driver that caused the accident.

Beverage guy Ice T plays a down and out "bum" that is given a job to help a group of guys at a hunting lodge...or so he thinks. In reality, he is to be the prey. Surviving the Game is a reworking of the timeless classic story by Richard Connell "The Most Dangerous Game." Ice T ends up running from this group of selfish, arrogant, and sadistic killers that feel no remorse or shame for killing this man because he is a homeless vagrant. He matches wits with his opponents and then some. This film can best be described as entertainment. It isn't full of great acting..the acting is acceptable with a few good performances out of Rutger Hauer(Man this guy can be scary) and Charles Dutton. The rest are merely adequate...a means to develop the plot and move things along. The story is pretty good but has some flaws, but the film is full of action and suspense.

Every time these days I watched some of those new movies and shows I have to travel back in time - to wash away the memories of all those bad made stuff. Surviving the Game is one of those solid and fine trash action movies of good old times that are not infested by too much pc stuff and strangeled to death by the CGI department. What you get is a simple story and some simple and straight cheesy action. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it very memorable? No. Is it entertaining? Yes.

Well it looks like these guys had a lot of fun making this flick. The movie is unintentionally funny in many places, and the directing appears as haphazard as the plot. F Murray Abraham is perpetually dumb. Gary Busey is perpetually angry. If you like guns, explosions, and seeing bad guys getting wasted, this movie is for you.

If you like action movies, you will enjoy watching 'Surviving The Game' starring Ice T, Rutger Hauer, Gary Busey and Fredrick F. Gray.

Surviving The Game is a very fast paced movie, running slightly under 2 hours. It keeps the pace going nicely from scene to scene, with no lag time or unnecessary dialogue, although the screenwriting could have been better and the characters script more refined.

Ice-T gives a very good performance and the bad guys chasing him all put in great performances with the roles they are given.

As long as you don't expect this movie to be anything more than a fast paced action packed flick, you will enjoy it. It is one of the good B+ action flicks of the 90's with plenty of explosions, shootouts. It also has some really beautiful scenery filmed in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, which adds to the movies viewing pleasure.

A solid 6.4 out of 10.

This movie could have been so much better with a script rewrite. Not that I expect a great deal of plausibility in movies, but you'd think that even the homeless and urban-dwelling Jack Mason would question why a group of experienced hunters would want to hire him as a hunting guide. And upon reaching the hunting grounds, poor Ice-T plays his part as if he is actually going to lead these men through woods he's never seen before.

And how does Jack Mason find Thomas Burns back in Seattle?

I'm assuming this movie was based on Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game." A few years ago I showed this movie to a class of 9th grade students after they read the story. I reedited the movie, cutting out all the pointless scenes and all the profanity. It ended up being 43 minutes long.

I'm always interested in new ideas and this one had my interest. I wish they hadn't included that first scene, because it could have been a cool twist in the movie. The acting was a little cheesy and over the top in parts to where it was almost comical. Overall a decent not well known action movie.

What we have here is a film that works from one of the most overused premises around - namely, the one pioneered by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack in the classic thriller "The Most Dangerous Game". Since then, it's been used in a number of films, including the likes of John Woo's Hard Target, and Jess Franco's Tender Flesh. I am, of course, talking about the idea of a group of hunters capturing, releasing and then killing the most dangerous prey known to man - man. This film focuses on Jack Mason; a down and out drifter who decides to kill himself after finding his dog and only friend dead one morning. However, he's saved and ends up travelling to an island where he thinks he's going to be helping some hunters, but actually he's what they're planning to hunt. There really isn't much I can say about this film as it's all purely routine, and if you've ever seen anything like this before; you're bound to know what's going to happen. The film stars Ice-T, who actually delivers a likable performance in the lead role despite a very silly looking hairstyle. The rest of the case is fleshed out by cult actors such as Rutger Hauer and Gary Busey, although nobody really stands out amid the tedium. As a basic thriller, the film is entertaining enough - although I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone well versed in this sort of film as they're bound to have seen it all before.

This was a movie I fell in favor of instantly, seeing a man on the run for his life from a band of sadistic hunters whose prey are humans rather than animals. It was so very amazing to see Ice-T as the man on the run who gave the hunters more than what they had all bargained for. Even the collection of hunters involved, headed up by Rutger Hauer and featuring the likes of an esoteric cast such as Charles S. Dutton, John C. McGinley, William McNamara (an actually unwilling participant in this ordeal), Gary Busey and F. Murray Abraham make for a band of human flesh hunters enough to make anybody run for cover. All-in-all, the type of movie for anyone to see for an idea of how the human mind can extend to the point of insanity with regard to whose life is important versus whose life is not. As the slogan of the movie goes, Never underestimate a man--or a woman(!)--who has nothing to lose.

This really could have been a great chase/action movie. It has all the right ingredients with the hunters, the hunted, the unwilling hinted man being chased for his life through the woods...the claustrophobia, the suspense, the psychological element, yeah it had enough in there to maker a really great story. What happened then? First let me point out that I thoroughly enjoyed this film!! I enjoyed it when I realised it was not as professional as I might have thought at first, so I sat back to enjoy a good old action flick in the manner of Schwarzenegger or something and it fitted the bill well. The doc, Gary Busey, was just perfect in his role and I was a bit saddened when his character was no longer. He could have brought more to this movie.

I haven't had the 'pleasure' of watching Ice-T in a movie until now.

Ice-T is a bad actor! He also had such bad lines that maybe it wasn't exactly his fault. Either way he was quite a part in the downfall of this film. For someone who is a streetwise homeless guy he seemed to lack a bit of judgement and was as gullible as they come.

OK OK OK forget all that. If you want to enjoy this film then you must suspend disbelief, don't ask questions about this or that character or why this happened or didn't happen, just get yourself cosy, sit back and have a good night in with this eclectic bunch of weirdo's trying to kill each other in the woods. It is as simple as that. For that it deserves at least 5 stars. Enjoyable but could definitely have been miles better.

Oh and remind me not to watch Ice-T again...