Game of Death

Directed by: Giorgio Serafini

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Gary Daniels, Zoe Bell, Robert Davi, Ernie Hudson

Synopsis:

Wesley Snipes’ character Marcus is a U.S Government Black Ops Agent on the run and discredited after a disastrous operation. Recently asked to infiltrate an extremely powerful criminal cartel, Marcus has found himself accused of mass murder corruption and theft.

We are introduced to him when he finds himself in a church, confiding in benevolent priest (Ernie Hudson). He is a man on the edge with no reason to live, and his spectacular retelling to the sympathetic minister recounts a life of bloodshed and conflict and the details of the last chaotic few days during which his belief in the job he does and the loyalty of the people he worked with were torn away in unbelievable acts of betrayal.

Review:

It could have had everything. The covert action setup, the heavyweight action star, the more than competent supporting cast (Gary Daniels, of ‘The Expendables’ fame providing the double crossing villain and Giorgio Serafini directing.) Set ups for spectacular martial combat set pieces and at the heart of it a gut deep motive of betrayal and revenge.

It could have. Giorgio Serafini himself admits on the Specials section of the DVD that he came in just days before shooting started and as talented as he is, this tiny amount of time to prep really shows. Not many people could pull anything coherent out of the bag with such a short warm up, so don’t get me wrong, respect to the man for helming it at all, but there was clearly no time for him to invest much soul in what he did.

In all honesty I’m not sure how much soul would have shown through the dialogue in any case as it is pretty flat. The actors' delivery of lines, which you know should be heartfelt and poignant, often come across as empty. The lines In Jim Agnew and Megan Brown’s screenplay appear ridiculously clichéd and contrived (I know it’s an action movie not Orson Welles, but we all expect either snappy one liners or genuine emotion these days and this film delivers on neither).

I doubt that the writers are wholly responsible for this unfortunate end result. It’s my suspicion that either: 1. changes were made to dialogue at the last minute by a director hastily familiarising himself with the project and trying to give it his own twist . And this left the actors with no time to re-center their characters and find appropriate motivation. Or 2. Dialogue was left as was, but the director changed the direction and pacing to such a degree that it left the actors looking out of place in the new vision he had brought.

It does need remarking on that actors with genuine flair and ability to convey real characters on screen seem, at some points wooden and stiff.

It is possible to see the kind of atmosphere Serafini is attempting to create. Best comparisons would be a sort of dark side 24 directed by Michael Mann. I say this because the films score is a minimalist post grunge composition of droning guitars and choppy bass, and it seems really really innapropriate.

The best thing that can be said about this movie is that everybody worked to the best of their abilities and made a professional looking movie in undesirable conditions. The sad thing about that is that in the circumstances everyone comes out looking like their abilities are considerably less than they are. Which brings me to the question on everyone’s lips.

Wesley Snipes? Blade Wesley Snipes? Passenger 57 Wesley Snipes? Yes indeed so, this film is way beneath the vast majority of Snipes work of the last couple of decades. Snipes’ action characters have always been a bit awkward-seeming in real life encounters, perhaps a bit po faced and guilty of taking themselves too seriously but that was what Snipes the actor brought to them, skilfully and sometimes with humour.

Unfortunately this film takes him a quantum leap backwards to ‘well funded grad film’ days and he along with everyone else has so little to work with that his burnt out CIA man seems like a two dimensional cut out. A pity as this could have been a breakthrough role in the right hands. Think Cruise in Collateral or Washington in man on fire.

Okay, so as not to be totally on it’s case, Game of Death does deliver masterful fight scenes. The close quarters Ju Jitsu Krav Maga and Silat influenced fighting style made everso popular in recent years in most Western Action movies features big in this. Snipes and co. are all U.S or U.K Military types and this brutal efficient style looks wicked as well as being kind of realistic. Snipes has not slowed down one bit in terms of fighting and Gary Daniels is the real deal, so is Zoe Bell whose fights always have the edge in terms of gutter brutality. The shootouts also clearly have been carefully thought through. The cat and mouse pursuits through the hospital with Snipes firing and manouvering against his opponents are tense and slick.

Verdict:

4 out of 10 (Sulaco)

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