Directed by Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, plus a number of shorts) and starring Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Iron Man 2) and Onni Tommila (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, Last Cowboy Standing).
90 mins; action adventure; 12+
A Finnish film with co-production partners in the UK and Germany, shot in Bavaria in Germany and in English.
On the surface, this film has a wafer-thin storyline, but the performances of the veteran actor Samuel L. Jackson against that of the newcomer, young Onni Tommila, and the development of their characters, is what makes this film. What is also offers are stunning landscapes, supposedly of northern Finland, but magnificent nevertheless.
The film starts out with two stands that merge quite quickly: US President William Alan Moore (Samuel L. Jackson) is travelling in Air Force One when he has to evacuate in an escape module when it is shot down by terrorists. The other strand sees young Oskari (Onni Tommila) setting off by himself into the wilderness to make his first hunting kill himself, in a right-of-passage.
Oskari does not seem to be very capable, particularly with his feeble attempts with his bow-and-arrow; he does, though, speak English as well as Finnish, and releases President Moore from the module which has landed in the forested hillsides. President Moore relies on young Oskari to lead him out of the snow-bound wilderness to safety, but first Oskari has to make his kill.
Their priorities then change when those responsible for shooting down the plane come looking for President Moore, to claim him as their "Big Game" prize... In the meantime, the Pentagon officials are powerless to figure out what is happening and even to locate the President.
