Surviving the Game

Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, Surviving the Game follows Ice-T’s Jack Mason as he’s tricked into accompanying several wealthy individuals into a remote forest and eventually hunted for sport. It’s an almost inherently compelling premise that’s employed to watchable yet thoroughly erratic effect by Dickerson, as the filmmaker, working from Eric Bernt’s screenplay, delivers a hit-and-miss thriller that’s rarely as taut or enthralling as one might’ve anticipated – with the movie’s entertaining-enough atmosphere, then, perpetuated by its solid performances and smattering of gripping sequences. (There is, in terms of the latter, a fantastic interlude in which a few characters attempt to perilously make their way across a precarious log bridge.) The ongoing emphasis on individually-compelling segments goes a long way towards compensating for the sporadically less-than-absorbing vibe, and it’s difficult, certainly, not to get a kick out of the cat-and-mouse game that inevitably ensues between Jack and his various pursuers – although there’s little doubt the picture fares just as well in its smaller, quieter stretches (eg Gary Busey’s unhinged figure tells a story about his childhood dog). By the time the relatively satisfying finale rolls around, Surviving the Game has cemented its place as a decent-enough endeavor that undoubtedly receives plenty of mileage out of the scenery-chewing work of its various performers. (Rutger Hauer, cast as the leader of the villainous pursuers, is especially engaging here.)

**1/2 out of ****