hyped garbage

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This Australian Outback tale of the standoff between a brave, beautiful woman and a trio of bullying hunters is notable for two things.1. How many times people DON'T get killed. 2. The way its conflict is grounded in normal human behavior gone awry, instead of being spawned by abnormal evil.Jessica (Cassandra Delany) runs a ramshackle animal sanctuary in the Australian wilds. Her husband is away and the local cop refuses to help as she's harassed by three men hired by local farmers to shoot kangaroos. In their tricked-out jeep, complete with shooting perch and a handlebar mustache front bumper, the handsome Sony (Peter Ford), frantic Ringo (David Sandford) and chubby Sparks (Garry Who) begin bothering Jessica as an act of boorish bravado. The more Jessica stands up to their taunts and manhandling, however, the more aggressive and violent the hunters become until what began as almost a form of roughhouse flirting turns into a life-or-death struggle for dominance.Fair Game is an enjoyable little thriller, for its effective execution, wonderful Down Under scenery and for its different spin on the classic female revenge story. The whole "woman being set upon by men until she fights back" is one of the foundations of the American exploitation film. The U.S. version is almost always about the victim turning the tables on her victimizers. These Aussie filmmakers take that concept in a refreshingly interesting direction. Jessica is never just hapless prey and the hunters aren't psycho killers. Jessica is a frontier woman defending her home and her dignity. The hunters are never monsters. They're unthinking, adrenaline-seeking jackasses who simply don't care how their behavior bothers or even endangers others. It's only when Jessica refuses to back down and accept their crude, schoolboy torments that their behavior lethally escalates.Redefining this conflict as a battle of wills makes for a much more entertaining film. The fact that at certain points in the movie, Jessica is the one who actually elevates her fight with the hunters to a new level of intensity gives depth to an otherwise basic plot. Making the woman a proactive participant in her clash with these men enlivens all of the characters and engages the viewer on a different level. When the hunters repeatedly have Jessica at their mercy and decide not to harm her, it makes them more than just avatars of our brutal voyeurism.The dialog here is nothing to write home about and there are a few moments where something happens that doesn't seem to be possible. That's more than compensated for by the, at times, startling nudity of Cassandra Delaney.Fair Game is a thriller that's more intellectually intriguing than emotionally gripping, but it's still worth watching.

This mid-eighties thriller is a skimpy, but surely entertaining and crazy Australian b-grade exploitation attempt at the revenge sub-genre. A young woman takes on some restless kangaroo poachers who go onto make her life hell, when she confronts them about killing animals on her wildlife sanctuary. It's a lot better than you're led to believe. A cat (well there's three of them) and mouse game evolves, as they simply go tit for tat (no one is desperate to back down) in humiliating, terrorising and finally gaining sweet vengeance. The savage violence isn't particularly extreme, as it has a comic book tone to it, but it's mean-spirited and gustily dished-up. From the get-go you can tell it's going to be thrilling, exciting and blistering as it gets straight in to it and never adjusts otherwise. The suspense holds up and the adrenaline kick gets the heart-pounding in many knuckle-busting sequences (the memorable trophy truck ride). Andrew Lesnie sharply photographs the colourfully rugged Australian landscape and wildlife, but it's the moody nightlife cinematography that adds the atmospheric dynamics. Cassandra Delaney (who looks lovely and spends the quite bit time in the flesh) brings a genuine grittiness and sympathetic side to a strong, capable character. The boneheaded, cruel poachers are eccentrically portrayed by Peter Ford, David Sandford and Gary Who. From this inclusion, the gigantic killer pig feature 'Razorback (1984)' comes to mind. Dominating a lot the scenes would be that of Ashley Irwin's uncanny live-wire and throbbing music score. Sometimes uncalled for, but always palatable. Director Mario Andreacchio makes good of the psychical set-pieces and locations. While writer Rob George's material is fundamental, he still strikes up a dependable script that never resorts to camping it up. An agreeable revenge item.

I had two movies called "Fair Game" standing on my must-see list, so I watched them after each other in order not to lose track of one of them. The first one was an obscure Italian lethal-snake-on-the-loose thriller also known as "Mamba" and this one is Australia's belated (unless I missed something) response to the 'Revengeploitation" sub genre. Revenge thrillers were especially popular throughout the entire decade of the 70's, with highlights like "Last House on the Left", "I Spit on your Grave, "Fight for your Life", "House by the Lake" and "House on the Edge of the Park". These movies routinely handle about innocent women (preferably defenseless and fragile) getting harassed and viciously raped by a group of men (preferably perverted hicks and/or fugitive criminals) and then avenging themselves by taking justice into their own hands. The gritty atmosphere and gratuitous use of violence and sleaze in "Fair Game" is pretty much prototypic revenge thriller stuff, but it nevertheless also remains an authentic Aussie movie, meaning the assaulters are bored kangaroo poachers looking for new thrills and the 'victim' (Cassandra Delaney; the former Mrs. John Denver) is actually a very potent lady who fights back from the beginning and never really allows her opponents to get the upper hand. Jessica runs a wildlife reservation in the middle of the outback, so naturally there's a vicious conflict when she bumps into a trio of insensitive and macho poachers doing some illegal kangaroo hunting on her territories. This film feels refreshing and innovative because the script doesn't unfold like the majority of 70's revenge thrillers. The interactions between Jessica and the poachers start off like a testosterone-laden showdown, but then gradually escalate into a merciless battle with humiliation, rape and murder. There are several highly memorable and deliciously exploitative scenes in "Fair Game", most notably the one with Delaney – in her white undies - tied to the hood of a jeep whilst it races through the desert. Her acts of vengeance during the climax are quite impressive as well and I guarantee there's some impressive bloodshed to enjoy in "Fair Game". As often the case with Australian cult-productions ("Outback", "Wolf Creek", "Mad Max"…), the exterior filming location and wildlife images alone make the movie worth purchasing and this particular one also benefices from good music and stylish camera-work. The acting performances are more than satisfying and I'm pleased to notice the cast exclusively exists of native Australians. This isn't always the case, you know. Definitely recommended if you're a fan of the revenge movies.

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*One thing you can say about this movie, the video box didn't lie. That's very important to me after so many heartbreaks. It promises you a naked woman tied to the hood of a car and that's exactly what you get. Three kangaroo hunters decide to pick on a woman who lives by herself. She's all alone on her wildlife preserve, they're three fun loving hunters...you know where this is going. Their pranks escalate until we get the female hood ornament scene.About that scene, loved it. Another classic B-movie moment. It's the perfect turning point to turn her from farm girl to vengeance minded assassin. She does not disappoint. While the movie is not overly bloody or brutal, it has a cool B-movie vibe going on that suits it well. Morons humiliate her, she strikes back and so on and so on until the bloody end. I liked it.