Surviving the Game (1994) & Eliminator (2004)

Most Dangerous Game, but Busey and Bas

The Most Dangerous Game continues…

Surviving the Game (1994)

I’ve seen this one before, but it’s been ages and I don’t really remember anything except that it’s got Ice-T and Rutger Hauer.

We begin with the cruel juxtaposition of a lush wilderness peopled with hunters and the urban jungle peopled with a bedraggled Ice-T picking through garbage for his dinner. Ice gives a scrap to his dog so you know he’s a good guy. The dog dies. Back in the wilderness, hunters hit their target, who just happens to be a man.

Ice is the Robin Hood for his homeless buddies so you definitely know he’s a good guy. His buddy dies and Ice buries him next to the dog. Meanwhile, Charles Dutton is monitoring things from a distance - while not working for the local soup kitchen he recruits people to be hunted for sport.

Ruget Hauer cutting his nails during the interview to see if Ice can be a “hunting guide.” Ice-T cutting his dreads in the bath.

Some real gems in this hunting party with Gary Busey, F. Murray Abraham, and John McGinley joining Dutton and Hauer. Busey in particular as tells a story about his psychotic father and makes weird comparisons between Ice-T and the pig they’re all sharing for dinner.

Naturally, the next morning Ice finds out he is the pig and the hunt begins. What follows is a nice version of the Most Dangerous Game story mixed with some other stupid absurd unbelievable moments like how Ice-T transforms from an out of shape homeless guy to a flying ninja ghost by the end of the movie.

I guess this movie was before Ice-T made a million episodes of Law & Order and his acting is really atrocious. Then again maybe it never improved. Great supporting cast however and an overall fun version of The Most Dangerous Game. 🍕🍕🍕

Eliminator (2004)

I remember a while back I was watching some old PRIDE video and our trusty commentator and MMA OG Bas Rutten was talking about how he just finished shooting a movie, so of course at some point I had to do a Fight Pizza Movie Night about it. Luckily (or unluckily perhaps), it fits into this month’s theme of the “Most Dangerous Game,” so here ‘tis. Prepare yourself for Eliminator (2004).

Some absolutely bargain basement opening credits inform us we are likely in for a shit show, and indeed a very boring boat race turns into Bas getting drugged and thrown out of an airplane. Very PUBG actually, getting tossed from an airplane onto a jungle island for a Battle Royale, just way shittier and less exciting. On the other hand, half of it is filmed at nighttime with no lighting, so you can’t actually see the shittiness. Cut to a Squid Games scene of the rich folk watching/betting the action.

Like Robinson Crusoe, Bas makes a raft, then quickly abandons it. Blah blah.

If you missed this one in the theaters, don’t worry, everybody did because it came straight to the shelves of your local Blockbuster. Was there Blockbuster in 2004? Must have been. Whatever.

To sum up, Bas is a genuinely affable dude, but this movie is terrible, cheap, and looks like shit. (no 🍕s or a half 🍕 at best)

Check out the newly minted Fight Pizza letterboxd for a full list of “The Most Dangerous Game” movies and the Fight Pizza youtube for trailers or full length films.

MMA News

RIZIN 34 is this weekend and it’s all the same dudes I’ve already seen 6 times in the past year and a bunch of other dudes I’ve never heard of, so I’m not gonna stay up for it much less write anything. There will be a morning speed watch and a few tweets. One mediocre RIZIN show a month I can handle; three is testing my patience. It’s bizarre that in a time when RIZIN’s depth has been so sorely tested, they decide to put on a shit ton of extra shows (admittedly it’s called the Dana White plan and it seems to work for the UFC). It’s not all bad news though, as the RIZIN 35 / Trigger 3rd combo April 16 / 17 will finally see the return of foreign fighters and some sorely needed fresh blood. High hopes for that and possible return to pre-pandemic RIZIN standard of quality as a legit global organization and not just some regional feeder league. It’s been a long fucking time.

I will however be watching ONE X live and that will likely get a write up - it has like everybody on the roster and some interesting and fun match ups including the most bizarre mixed rules fight between DJ and Rodtang. Look out for it on or around March 26th.

I’ve basically given up on Fight Circus 4.

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