Surviving the Game

I really think Surviving the Game is an underrated and, for the most part, unknown gem.  Just the concept of taking The Most Dangerous Game and 90’s-ing it up is brilliant.  I mean check out this fucking cast: Ice-T (Ricochet, New Jack City) as the man being hunted and Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Gary Busey (Under Siege, Predator 2), Charles S. Dutton (Alien 3, Menace II Society), John C. McGinley (Point Break, On Deadly Ground) and F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Scarface) as the hunters.  I hesitate to call this an all out action movie because the fight scenes are sparse but the constant tension and the characters (and the actors playing the characters) make up for it.  This movie was directed by Ernest Dickerson who did Juice right before this and written by Eric Bernt who wrote Virtuosity (which is also overlooked in my opinion) after this and is another movie about a guy hunting down another guy (well he’s not really human but whatever).

This clip is a monologue that Busey gives before they start the hunt and before Ice-T knows what’s really going on.  It’s one of Busey’s finest performances and I mean that sincerely.  You really believe that he had this fucking dog and was forced to face off with it.  The story itself is really great and badass enough but Busey gives it the attention and presentation that it deserves.