DVD Game of Death

First of all let me point out that I really love action movies. I just recently spent time viewing several of Arnold's old movies, which are all classics! Take Commando – this is my definition of a great action film: Extremely simple story, but completely packed with some serious action, with a bad-ass protagonist spitting out cheezy one-liners after each round of pawnage!

Game of Death fails as a movie in pretty much every way possible. A simple "Arnold-like" action movie is what it SHOULD be. However, the people responsible for the film clearly thought that they had a story- line, actors, and camera-crew that would elevate this film to a "higher" level – whatever that is. Briefly summarized: The story and dialogue is a joke – some of the actors did such a poor job it almost makes some of the scenes embarrassing to watch. The main evil female agent must be one of the worst performances of 2010 – not to mention that the director for some reason decided to make most of the poorly acted dialogue scenes extremely long. So instead of filling the movie with cool karate-style Wesley Snipes action, the movie is mostly wasted on the weak story and the terrible acting. Most of the action scenes were even constantly interrupted by the bad guy having to shoot his mouth off – blah blah blah… What we WANT is pow pow pow!!!

By the way: The camera work and editing gave me a laugh. For some reason they have some sudden clips of black'n white shots – and some other artsy-fartsy filming which is COMPLETELY out of place.

I'll give this movie a 2/10 simply because I enjoy some of Wesley Snipes unarmed action scenes. But for gods sake don't waste your time watching this garbage like I did.

Finally a quick appeal to WS:

Dear Wesley,

Please fire your agent – or whoever persuaded you to participate in Game of Death. You are a cool guy and could renew your franchise of films where you kick ass again. But make it SIMPLE. A 1:30 film should have at least 60 minutes of action!!!

And remember to pay your taxes, Nebukanezer

PS: Wesley picks up a Glock 9mm (with silencer) from one of the bad guys in the hospital. These guns typically have between 15 and 17 rounds (full sized or compact versions). Without reloading the gun I think Wesley probably fired around 150 shots from this gun.

This movie is played out thru and as a sort of "confession" to a priest. So the story is not told in REAL time; but AFTER the fact; sitting in a church with a priest.

CIA agent Marcus Jones is given the assignment of infiltrating the organization of arms dealer, Frank Smith, and thru him get to the president or head of a hedge fund operation based in Detroit; man named Redvale, who smith is working with. The CIA wants them both dead. It seems that Redvale Corp. has oil interests some place in Africa but the policies of the local government there is somehow cramping their style or interfering with the conduct of their business. This is where Frank Smith comes in: Revdale is financing Smith to arm rebels opposed to the government.

Immediately after Marcus is given his assignment, the movie cuts to –and begins– at a point where he has already infiltrated Frank Smith's operation and is now working for him as security or a personal bodyguard. They are in a plane together at this point on their way to the Revdale Corp. to see Revdale and collect Smith's share of money from some transaction or deal in Africa. The plane lands and they transfer to a black SUV with cool musical accompaniment (Don't you wish this would happen every time YOU stepped off a plane or headed for your car?). At the same time, Marcus's CIA team is getting ready to move in; orders are given by their head of operations flying in a chopper overhead, that no action should be take until Smith picks up his loot.

The action begins when "others" I'm calling them (an important plot twist already spoiled for you by the IMDb synopsis) decide to interfere with the CIA operation so that they can get their greedy paws on all the loot that Smith is about to collect. At the same time, in the back seat of the SUV, Smith is starting to feel hot and bothered; complains about the heat; shortly thereafter he is having a major heart attack and has to be taken to a hospital. But the "others", unaware of this, are shooting at the car to get it to stop. They want Smith captured so that they can use him to get into Revdale Corp. and collect his money. A chase leads to a hospital where most of the action takes place as the "others" hunt Marcus and look to kidnap the badly ailing Smith.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie (low expectations, I guess). Turns out this is a good action film. Snipes played his character Marcus in a sober, detached sort of way; like a man who has no other life or friend but his job and whose longest conversations take place within. So he's serious; has no "attitude" and cracks no jokes. Not even a "forced" smile for the nurse who was looking after him and who was clearly flirting (Down fellas, not the nurse of your fantasies). For example, after some comment she made about always wanting to date a bodyguard, he looked at her as if he had no idea what she was going on about; as if human chit chat or conversion was something he was unfamiliar with. So this guy is busy; unless you have something to do with his mission or the job at hand, you exist to him only peripherally.

The movie utilizes the "hunter-and-prey-in-a-confined-area" (a hospital) scenario. And though hardly original, it is a favorite of many people –if done well– and I thought it was done well here. So it was entertaining to watch hunter and prey navigate the rooms and floors of the hospital; the former trying to kill or capture and the latter trying to survive and get away. I found the fight scenes effective; smart and satisfying; demonstrating that breaking someone's neck is not the snap you might have thought it was (sorry; couldn't resist). Finally, just to give you some perspective: This movie, while not having all the money, star-power, and fire-power of say, "The Expendables", is still hands-down the better made action film. Demonstrating once again that "less" is often "more" and "more" is often "less". Love, Boloxxxi.