Game of Death is a movie with no game and only some death. I can only imagine that the filmmakers named it Game of Death because it is a generic name for an equally generic action movie. I forgot about this movie about five minutes after finishing it, and I have not thought about it since. Still, I know that there are probably some people out there who saw this on Netflix or Blockbuster (if there is one left in your neighborhood) and wonder if this is a return to awesome fighting movies for Wesley Snipes. Sadly, the answer is no.
In Game of Death, secret ops Agent Marcus (Wesley Snipes) is undercover as the bodyguard for an arms dealer named Smith (Robert Davi). His mission is put into jeopardy when his fellow agents decide to take matters into their own hands and take off with the millions from the arms deal. Will he stand aside while they murder a man and steal his money, or will he fight back and protect an innocent nurse who gets wrapped up in the insanity? If you have to ask this question, then you have never seen every action movie ever made.
First off, there are a few cool fight moments in Game of Death, most of which I am guessing were choreographed by Wesley Snipes. I would expect at least that much, though, considering that Wesley Snipes and Uma Thurman’s stunt double from the Kill Bill series are in starring roles. The director only has to tell them what he wants and they can definitely do it, and there are scenes which have the potential to be very exciting including a fight on a rooftop that ends quite painfully for one of the film’s villains.
Unfortunately, the story and characters in Game of Death are not compelling enough to make me care. I know that Wesley Snipes will eventually best the bad guys, and as to the fates of everyone else, they are not unique enough to have me remember them beyond “The Nurse,” “The Blond Villainess,” or “The Skeezy Italian Guy.” Even Ernie Hudson, a.k.a. Winston from Ghostbusters, is not developed beyond “The Cool Priest.” Seriously, they have a Ghostbuster in their movie, and they can not even have fun with that.
I wanted Game of Death to be better. Honestly, I did. I did not go into this movie wanting to hate it. True action actors like Wesley Snipes are rare in a day of stunt doubles and CGI, and he could do a wonderful job with a better script and more engaging plot. Let’s hope that next time Wesley Snipes’ agent is a bit more discerning with his next project.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
I don’t usually bother talking about the special features on straight-to-DVD fare like Game of Death, but I have to make an exception here. There is a behind-the-scenes featurette that has interviews with almost the entire leading cast and a lot of the crew, and yet the audience is left knowing nothing more than we knew before. It is almost a feat in itself. I am almost tempted to recommend that aspiring filmmakers take a look at it so they know how not to make a behind-the-scenes featurette.
When asked about the casting of Game of Death, the cast and crew say, “We had Wesley Snipes/Zoe Bell in the movie…and that was pretty cool.” The point of interviewing cast and crew is to find out something the audience did not know before. On-set practical jokes are fun. Personal stories about why they chose this film would be enlightening. For example, why did they pick Wesley Snipes to play Agent Marcus? Why is the movie titled Game of Death? How much of the fight choreography was done by the official fight choreographer, and how much did Wesley and Zoe contribute to the final product? Their behind-the-scenes featurette manages to not answer any of these questions. Game of Death now holds the odd distinction of worst special features on any DVD I have seen since I began reviewing movies professionally, so congratulations to the folks behind it.
"Game of Death" is on sale February 15, 2006 and is rated R. Action, Drama, Martial-Arts. Directed by Giorgio Serafini. Written by Jim Agnew, Megan Brown. Starring Ernie Hudson, Gary Daniels, Robert Davi, Wesley Snipes, Zoë Bell.
