Today’s quick review: Game of Death. CIA agent Marcus Jones (Wesley Snipes) goes undercover as the head of security for Frank Smith (Robert Davi), a notorious arms dealer, to intercept an illegal deal with a Detroit hedge fund. But the mission goes sideways when Zander (Gary Daniels), Floria (Zoe Bell), and the rest of Marcus’s team betray him and take Smith hostage so they can steal the money for themselves.
Game of Death is a budget action thriller starring Wesley Snipes. After his team betrays him, Marcus Jones must take them down by himself. Game of Death aims to be a tense and chaotic thriller that pits one highly-skilled operative against several. In practice, though, it is a lackluster action flick with no character work, weak choreography, and a plot that doesn’t hold up to even basic scrutiny.
Game of Death strikes out hard with its villains. Bluntly put, Zander and Floria are inept. They kill civilians with reckless abandon, attempt to bribe Marcus while trying to kill him, and make threats that actively hinder their goals. They show no subtlety or forethought, and the only reason their rampage continues for as long as it does is because the movie treats the witnesses around them as deaf and clueless.
Marcus fares only a little better. He acquits himself well against Zander and Floria’s thugs, but he shows little real personality. He also never figures out a way to get ahead of the curve, leaving Zander and Floria to drive the tempo of the movie. As for the action, it is unsatisfying. The movie has a fair number of firefights and hand-to-hand brawls, but the few interesting stunts are interrupted by choppy camerawork.
The end result is an action thriller with nothing to fall back on. Game of Death misplays its story, and the high volume of its action cannot make up for its poor quality. As such, Game of Death is at best a middling pick for fans of the budget action genre. Most viewers would be better off looking elsewhere. For a Wesley Snipes action thriller in the same vein, try The Contractor, The Marksman, The Detonator, or 7 Seconds.
[4.7 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446072/). I give it a 4.0 for a basic setup and weak execution.