Undercover CIA agent Marcus Jones is investigating an arms dealer, Mr Smith, and the financier that works with him. When Smith is attacked on route to a deal Jones finds himself involved in a treacherous double-cross involving his own team.
Game of Death isn’t a remake of the troubled Bruce Lee film of the same name, it’s another straight-to-DVD action movie with a former Hollywood star taking the lead role. Here we have the always watchable Wesley Snipes as Marcus Jones, a CIA agent who gets to kick, punch and shoot his way out of a conspiracy involving his fellow agents. Basically it’s nothing that hasn’t been seen a thousand times before and it’s nothing that hasn’t been done better a thousand times before. But to be fair Snipes proves that he’s still not only a charismatic lead but also a good action hero as there’s plenty of opportunity for him to demonstrate his skills. Sadly director Giorgio Serafini adds unnecessary touches throughout the movie with an overreliance on slow motion and pointless black and white sequences hindering the action scenes.
Game of Death is at best mediocre, even by B-movie standards. It doesn’t offer anything new, it doesn’t take any risks, it doesn’t really have anything to recommend. Well there is a cool punch up between hero and villain to bring things to a decent close. If you’re a dedicated fan of Snipes then you may want to spend roughly 80 minutes of your day watching this. But any movie in his back catalogue provides far more entertainment than this forgettable offering.
