Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Blistering performances.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

being a bit generous with my interpretation maybe but you could say the plot can be considered a metaphor for how people take advantage of others that are down on their luck and masquerade as a helping hand. don't think this is a great piece of thought provoking cinema though, its really a far fetched story of successful people finding ways to get their kicks by hunting human beings as sport. the rag tag cast of bad guys do a pretty good job of posing as businessmen and high profile professionals with murderous and maladjusted personalities. for a good portion of movie we focus on ice t, who appears to be portrayed as a hapless naive suicidal homeless man (although his personal troubles I feel are not explored enough for the audience to fully sympathies or understand him). his only main advantage is his seemingly fantastic physical ability. its only later on that we see a man who is a little more savvy and able to out smart his hunters. although for someone so keenly and skilfully able to manipulate the people out to get him he does make some incredibly bad errors. this film seems so inconsistent both in ideas and pace. most of the deaths end up seeming quite ludicrous mainly through the fault of how it shows us how each is being dispatched. for the most part there doesn't appear to be any drama, tension or humanity to their demises, they are simply offed strangely and treated as a number on the list of baddies. sure, sometimes you want a baddie to disappear without much celebration.but I just feel that this film doesn't really offer much in the department its supposed to be geared for, there is no plot twists or intelligent writing here just simple bog standard against all odds survival clichés. for the most part its forgettable aside from the noted childhood recollection in the cabin from busey. and hauer sometimes displays a good screen presence although this isn't hauer's best. john c mcginley did a pretty good job with getting into character.

I rated this G-awful turkey a 1 just to try to get its rating down to about where it belongs - a 2 or 3 at best! Unbelievable that such high caliber actors would take part in such a cinematic mess - they must have been paid well or desperate for something to do. Normally only a bunch of unknowns would act in such a turkey. The events and actions portrayed are absolute nonsense and totally unrealistic - did anyone with half a brain read the script before shooting began? Could have been much better with a better script.SPOILER: One of the biggest nonsense parts (towards the end) was how the heck did Mason (Ice_T) get back to civilization when he was stranded in the middle of nowhere AND IN ONLY 3 DAYS! Just one of the MANY ridiculous story elements.Don't waste your time with this.

"Surviving the Game" is a hunted in the woods action picture with numerous problems. The set up in Seattle, with Ice T being duped into becoming the hunted, takes way too long. Once in the remote wilderness, there are frequent talky moments that seem like, and are, nothing but celluloid filler. The movie becomes less and less logical as it goes along, and the conclusion is a total train wreck. A night instantly changing into day sequence on atv's is absolutely priceless. Some of the acting is acceptable, and character development is pretty good, but the film fails to impress, because eventually all logic flies out the window, and the ending is rushed and wretched. - MERK

The "manhunt" action/suspense premise may perhaps be nearly as old as cinema itself, but it's also one that practically always guarantees a bloody good time! I've seen several film versions of the hunting-humans concept and loved them all; except for one (the abominable 60's bore "Bloodlust!"). Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack's original 30's classic "The Most Dangerous Game" undoubtedly remains the greatest version, but I particularly love how there exist numerous variations on the theme, like an excessively violent one set on a futuristic prison island ("Blood Camp Thatcher") or a super-sleazy one where they exclusively hunt scarcely dressed girls (Eddie Romero's "The Woman Hunt"). "Surviving the Game" is a rather rudimentary re-working of the premise, but nonetheless a very effective one with a downright awesome cast listing and a handful of genuine shocks. Jack Mason is an embittered and suicidal homeless man who loses his last will to live when both his dog and best friend in one day. The sly businessman Thomas Burns lures Mason to the wilderness with a false job promise, but instead he and his maniacal rich friends simply intend to hunt down Mason like an animal and kill him for sports. Mason may be suicidal, but he still wants to decide for himself when he dies, and so he successfully fights back. "Surviving the Game" is quite a gruesome and nihilistic-toned film; definitely not for people with vulnerable stomachs. The violence is pretty gratuitous and served without any form of morality, but what else do you expect from a B-movie. As indicated above, the film's main trump is the cast and particularly because each and every cool actor depicts a marvelously eccentric character. I can't even pick a favorite performance between F. Murray Abraham (as a sinister Wall Street big shot), Gary Busey (as an out-and-out deranged FBI psychiatrist), the overacting John C. McGinley (as a frustrated hunter with a vengeance) or of course Rutger Hauer as the mega-bastard. Ernest Dickerson – formerly a skilled cinematographer – does an admirable job directing his first long feature and he went on making the vastly entertaining Tales from the Crypt movie "Demon Knight". The forestry filming locations are impressive, the story doesn't contain any dull or unnecessary padding sequences and the level of suspense is continuously kept high. I don't know about you but that's everything I look for in an action movie.