Following the premiere of the terrific Cop Car at Sundance, I observed that we’re hitting a moment where the contemporary Amblin-esque films (boys’ adventures like Attack the Block and Rare Exports, for instance) are as good, if not better than the ones we recall so fondly. Will Exports director Jalmari Helander’s Big Game be another for the delightful lineup?
Big Game World Premiered as part of the storied Midnight Madness section at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September. We’re still waiting on official news of its U.S. release from EuropaCorp’s RED, a joint distribution venture with Relativity, but the film hits the UK in May and Empire has debuted a brand new trailer. In the film, Rare Exports star Onni Tommilla is a young boy in the wilderness of Finland who ends up a protector to the President of the United States (as played by Samuel L. Jackson). A tough job when forever tough dude Ray Stevenson is playing a “certified, grade-A psychopath.”
“Timid thirteen-year-old Oskari embarks on a traditional quest to prove himself by spending twenty-four hours alone in the wild, armed with only a bow and arrow. As Oskari wanders the vast forest, the night is ripped apart by a deafening crash. Following a trail of broken trees and burning debris, Oskari discovers the escape pod from Air Force One, containing the battered and bruised President of the United States (Samuel L. Jackson). With a team of terrorists hot on the president’s trail, the life of the most powerful man in the world lies in the hands of a teenage woodsman and this unlikely duo is soon plunged into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, with the clock ticking down towards disaster.”
Hopefully, stateside news on Big Game will hit soon, because this looks like 100% fun.
