Richard Connell has a lot to answer for.
Variations of his iconic 1924 Colliers magazine short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” have littered television and movie screens ever since the first official Hollywood adaptation in 1932, which featured Joel McCrea, Leslie Banks and Fay Wray.
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| Ben (Taron Egerton) cheerfully shows Sasha (Charlize Theron) the best way to begin her kayaking journey, offering two possible starting points on her map. |
We meet Sasha (Theron) and longtime companion Tommy (Eric Bana) toward the end of their ascent up the steep face of Norway’s imposing Troll Wall, rising above the Romsdalen Valley: a defying-the-elements challenge they’ve obviously done often, on this natural wonder and many others. Their characters are sketched economically but sufficiently; she’s headstrong and impatient, while he’s the voice of reason.
A final overhang repeatedly defeats her — as Lawrence Sher’s cinematography induces extreme vertigo — and then the weather turns against them.
“Luck is like anything else you take up a mountain,” Tommy sagely comments. “Eventually, it’ll run out.”
They accept defeat and begin to descend; the subsequent crisis is inevitable.
Five months later, Sasha travels to Australia’s (fictitious) Wandarra National Park. Her goal: a head-clearing, soul-cleansing whitewater kayaking journey down a lengthy, tempestuous river laden with rapids and falls (most scenes filmed along New South Wales’ majestic Woronora River).
Leonard Cohen’s “Boogie Street” plays behind this montage, up to the point Sasha checks in with an affable park ranger (Aaron Pedersen). He cautions that it’s rough country; quite a few people have disappeared, evidenced by a bulletin board laden with dozens of “Missing” notices and photos.
She next stops for supplies at a convenience store, where two loutish, good-’ol-boy hunters (Matt Whelan and Rob Carlton) get in her face. She calmly ignores their boorish behavior. The more genial Ben (Taron Egerton), dropping off some of his homemade meat jerky, apologizes for his gender. She insists that isn’t necessary, but nonetheless thanks him for the kindness.
They chat a bit; she asks for map directions to her destination. He offers a choice: the “easy way,” or the “hard way.” Naturally, the latter intrigues her more.
The first day passes without incident, as Sasha deftly kayaks down the often raging river. The location is wild, awesome and exhilarating; Sher’s camera work and Sigurður Eyþórsson’s rat-a-tat editing enhance the thrills. As the sun drops, exhausted but obviously happy, Sasha sets up camp and sleeps well.
The next morning, some of her stuff is missing.
The culprit turns out to be Ben (please tell me you aren’t surprised), who briefly plays nice before whipping out a wicked crossbow and revealing his intention to track and kill her. He returns the backpack — “to even the odds” — and gives her a head start lasting as long as Pantera’s head-banging “Walk,” while the now obviously deranged Ben shrieks maniacally along with the lyrics.
Credit where due: Egerton really throws himself into this batshit-crazy role.
What follows is inevitable, but works ... for awhile. The resourceful and well-muscled Sasha isn’t the average “victim,” and the initial cat-and-mouse pursuits and near-misses are appropriately tense. Portions of the river are in narrow, deeply walled canyons, giving her fresh opportunities to employ her climbing skills.
(Although Theron does only the close-ups during the river sequences, with Olympic-level kayakers River Mutton and Luuka Jones handling the rough stuff, she does do all of the climbing ... which is damn impressive.)
Pretty quickly, though, it becomes hard to believe how easily Ben keeps up with her. And since we know how this story must conclude — like there’s any doubt? — the manner by which that point is reached, becomes increasingly important.
Sadly, that’s where Robbins fumbles the ball. The final half-hour puts both characters through grueling physical hell, but it’s eye-rolling stuff and nonsense: particularly the grisly “surprise” that awaits Sasha. I began glancing at my watch, despite the film’s economical 95-minute length.
Theron delivers the required blend of emotions. Sasha is buoyant when with Tommy, then withdrawn and consumed by grief, as she begins her adventure. What follows lifts her from that burden; Theron persuasively conveys the turning point, when Sasha realizes that survival will require absolute focus, and belief in her own abilities.
Too bad her performance isn’t in service of a better film.
Netflix has cranked out plenty of action thrillers lately, most of which won’t linger in anybody’s memory. That’s certainly the case with this one.
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