Seattle street bum(Ice-T), whose wife and child were killed during a building collapse, is offered what he believes to be a potential job worth a substantial amount, not knowing that the hunting trip into the Oregonian woods he will serve as the hunted. Those out to get him work for the CIA, retired agents whose leisurely activities include hunting those they consider trash, societal outcasts no one cares about. What they don't expect is that their quarry is so resourceful, tough, and clever, soon turning the tables on them.
Variant on The Most Dangerous Game, doesn't stray from formula at all. It goes exactly as you'd expect, with Ice-T, no matter how implausible / improbable, upending his adversaries, despite their distinct advantages. The uniqueness this film brings to the familiar formula is who is being hunted, Ice-T, an obvious street-lifer, using his survival instincts from spending his life in the harsh environs of the Seattle urban areas to combat those with all the comforts and weaponry(..including ground vehicles)at their disposal. Just seeing Ice-T in an environment alien to him adds a nice touch to a rather overdone plot premise. The cast is something, I'll tell you..the hunters include Rutger Hauer, Charles Dutton, F Murray Abraham, John McGinley, William McNamara(..the moral core of the film, the son of Abraham, who finds this sport contemptible, but is caught in difficult circumstances, pressured by his father to hunt with them), and Gary Busey, who makes his short time on screen quite memorable(..get a load of the story he tells Ice-T regarding pops and how he got a scar under his eye!). McGinley steals the film as a loose cannon, with asthma, whose traumatic loss of a daughter fuels his desire to kill Ice-T. The ending, how Ice-T gets even with Hauer, is as far-fetched as it gets, but should satisfy because he's such a cretin. Dutton uncharacteristically portrays a loathsome scumbag, here, playing against type, relishing the hunt for Ice-T. Director Ernest Dickerson deftly handles the action within the wilderness quite effectively.
Poor Ice-T's character gets run through the ringer. He had already lost his family, living off the street, his dog gets hit by a taxi cab, his old pal dies, and just when it appears that Dutton is offering him a way out of terrible poverty, he becomes hunted by devious killers. He has to survive a leap into water, a hurt leg after crashing a ground vehicle he steals into a downed tree, is shot in the side, and escapes numerous altercations with those after his hide. Ice-T, to his credit, is rather good, with us able to understand how rough life has been to him, the strife evident in his eyes, having developed alligator skin after all life has dealt him.
Variant on The Most Dangerous Game, doesn't stray from formula at all. It goes exactly as you'd expect, with Ice-T, no matter how implausible / improbable, upending his adversaries, despite their distinct advantages. The uniqueness this film brings to the familiar formula is who is being hunted, Ice-T, an obvious street-lifer, using his survival instincts from spending his life in the harsh environs of the Seattle urban areas to combat those with all the comforts and weaponry(..including ground vehicles)at their disposal. Just seeing Ice-T in an environment alien to him adds a nice touch to a rather overdone plot premise. The cast is something, I'll tell you..the hunters include Rutger Hauer, Charles Dutton, F Murray Abraham, John McGinley, William McNamara(..the moral core of the film, the son of Abraham, who finds this sport contemptible, but is caught in difficult circumstances, pressured by his father to hunt with them), and Gary Busey, who makes his short time on screen quite memorable(..get a load of the story he tells Ice-T regarding pops and how he got a scar under his eye!). McGinley steals the film as a loose cannon, with asthma, whose traumatic loss of a daughter fuels his desire to kill Ice-T. The ending, how Ice-T gets even with Hauer, is as far-fetched as it gets, but should satisfy because he's such a cretin. Dutton uncharacteristically portrays a loathsome scumbag, here, playing against type, relishing the hunt for Ice-T. Director Ernest Dickerson deftly handles the action within the wilderness quite effectively.
Poor Ice-T's character gets run through the ringer. He had already lost his family, living off the street, his dog gets hit by a taxi cab, his old pal dies, and just when it appears that Dutton is offering him a way out of terrible poverty, he becomes hunted by devious killers. He has to survive a leap into water, a hurt leg after crashing a ground vehicle he steals into a downed tree, is shot in the side, and escapes numerous altercations with those after his hide. Ice-T, to his credit, is rather good, with us able to understand how rough life has been to him, the strife evident in his eyes, having developed alligator skin after all life has dealt him.