The controversial film The Hunt was digitally released on streaming devices on March 13th, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The movie focuses on the lives of twelve strangers, who wake up in a clearing and have no knowledge of where they are and how they got there. What they don't know is that they have been picked for a nefarious reason, The Hunt.

When the trailer was officially released, it was met with backlash with Conservatives and the President himself, with their pressure resulting in Universal Pictures withdrawing the film for release. I find this to quite hypocritical because the arbiters of "freedom of speech" and "censorship" got a movie withdrawn because they saw a piece of media that doesn't suit their needs. I don't get it. Why did they want a movie pulled from theaters in which their political side are the good guys? Alright, on to the review.

"The Hunt" relies on two aspects, Deception, and Dehumanization. Deception is quite prominent throughout the film. Some of the captors disguise themselves within the "hunted" to avoid suspicion and the setting may seem like it takes place in one part of the world but takes in another. Deception is a tool that is used by political extremists to make themselves look like the good guys but are actually the villains. The characters of Miranda (Amy Madigan) and Julius (Reed Birney) make it seem like that they are everyday folks but are apart of the much bigger and evil picture, which is the "The Hunt". They strip themselves of their elitist background, call themselves "Ma and Pop", and make it seem like if they're common people. When escaped three captors go inside their gas station, and ask for help. The sinister couple reveals their true colors and kills the three captors. There are a few more cases of deception in this film but I don't want to spoil too much.

The next aspect that the movie relies on is Dehumanization. The victims of "The Hunt" aren't seen as people, they are seen as pawns for something that is unethical. We don't know anything about the victims, not even their own names (With the exceptions of Crystal and Gary (Ethan Suplee) After "Ma and Pop" killed the three captors. "Ma," notices that one of the captors, nicknamed Staten Island (Ike Barinholtz), was a married man. "Ma" starts to feel guilty about what she has done and "Pop" brushes it off saying that he was a "monster." Toward the end of the film, the main protagonist, Crystal (Betty Gilpin), breaks into Athena's (Hilary Swank) mansion, she finds photos of the victims taped to the wall. One photo is a mugshot and one is shaking hands with a person in government. Even though we get a small glimpse of what their lives were like, their personhood is never revealed.

What's the third "D" used in the film? Deflection. How is this so? When Crystal finally confronts Athena, she says this; "You people, you take anything you want, and you twist it around until it fits into your backwards fucking world view." She continues with, "You wanted it to be true so you decided it was. This was your idea." Athena, the main antagonist of the film, isn't taking responsibility for her part in "The Hunt" and Is deflecting her misdeeds onto Crystal. This is a common tactic used by political extremists to make their opposition look bad (The left calling their detractors "fascists" and the right calling their detractors "SJWs"). This is the only part of the film that Deflection is displayed.

Do I recommend this movie? Well... It depends on what type of person you are. I personally found the film to be quite enjoyable. I liked the jokes that alluded to the current political climate and how both sides were made fun of equally. If you're that type of person that likes political incorrect humor then go ahead, if you're easily offended by everything, then I don't know what to tell you.

The Hunt is available to stream on Prime Video, Youtube, iTunes, and VUDU.