With the tagline "The Most Talked About Movie of the Year is One That No One's Actually Seen," it was no question that Craig Zobel's "The Hunt" was a production I couldn't pass up. On the promotional posters for the film, there had been quotes from popular outlets claiming the movie was "A disturbance to our country" (Deadline), a "Political uproar" (People), and "Designed to stoke division in the country" (The Wall Street Journal).
I was ready for a thrill!
However, in waiting for that seat ejecting moment where all of it would make sense, the marketing, and the delayed release, it made the experience of an enjoyably short action film, all in all underwhelming. I was underwhelmed because this movie did well at making an audience laugh and have some fun without taking itself too seriously. The direction of the film teetered from a who's who in a broken hunting game to a straightforward hunter becomes hunted scenario that has been done all too similar in 2011's You're Next and somewhat in 2019's Ready or Not.
When "elites," led by Hilary Swank's character Athena, are hunting down "deplorables" in an arena using firearms, the elites are not equipped for what one deplorable brings to the table. One deplorable named Crystal, played by Betty Gilpin, turns out to be more aware of the nature of the games than the elites anticipated. Beyond the film's background, latching onto characters, in the beginning, is a wonderfully hilarious game of hot potato as you aren't explicitly introduced to the main character until after 15 minutes or so. Throughout that time audiences share moments with several other characters who are trying to survive the game that eventually will follow Crystal. She comes in and though the story started quite playful, I wouldn't start relaxing because she brings a hell of a party to the elites.
Action befalling a character on all fronts is mayhem. This is a great protagonist to root for, but the question lingers within each fight scene as to whether or not they are truly battle sequences or just demonstrations of imbalanced combat. There is one long fight scene at the end that hits the mark for hand to hand fight scenes in a movie, while still earning a chuckle out of the audience, and everything after that was excellent.
The movie served itself deliciously within its runtime and worked in some light satirical commentary on leftists vs rightists, without diving too deep into the pit of the subject. The jabs to one another from both sides appeared to portray how extreme conversations can become when people adhere to equally extreme beliefs. From these beliefs, they may consider others with alternate views to be their enemy. It's politely deflective of any hard-hitting topics when it comes to debates today, and otherwise a rather simple pick up and go kind of watch.
See "The Hunt" in theater's on Marc 13, and take a friend who can appreciate a laugh and killer action!
Follow me on Twitter and let me know what your experience of "The Hunt" was like @JSYKnowa.
