Watched on Now TV. Not to be confused with the 2012 film starring Mads Mikkelsen.
The Hunt is directed by Craig Zobel and written by Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen) and Nick Cuse. It stars Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank and plenty of others. It caused some controversy as it depicts ‘liberal elites’ hunting ‘red state, right wing voters’ (broadly speaking).
The Hunt has some interesting ideas in it and parts I enjoyed. The concept is kind of clever at times and there is some fun action. There were some moments near the beginning that did genuinely surprise me which I liked. I also liked Betty Gilpin in the main role and would love to see her in something really good as an Ellen Ripley/ Sarah Connor type character.
However, the film isn’t really funny or clever enough to carry off the premise. If It was funnier or smarter it would be much better, but without that its just fine but not nearly worthy of the controversy that had Donald Trump angry about it.
I also don’t really like the title. It’s a slightly odd criticism, but there is already a film called The Hunt and that title doesn’t tell you that much about the film. I heard a working title was Red State vs Blue State, not certain if that was true, but some play on Red vs Blue could have been fun, but the studio probably didn’t want to risk it. If not just call it Manorgate, thats what they call the hunt, so just call it that.
Overall, would I recommend it? Maybe, if you want to see what the fuss is about. Its pretty short and moves along briskly, but equally there are definitely better movies/books that deal with the same ideas and are better. 2.5 Stars.
Movie Night 