Director: Craig Zobel
Writer: Nick Cuse, Damon Lindelof (Screenplay)
Starring: Hilary Swank, Emma Roberts, Betty Gilpin, Ethan Suplee, Justin Hartley, Ike Barinholtz, Macon Blair
Plot: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don’t know they’ve been chosen – for a very specific purpose – The Hunt.
Tagline – The Most Talked About Movie of the Year is One That No One’s Actually Seen
Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Entertaining Comedy
Story: The Hunt starts as 12 strangers wake up gagged in the middle of a woodland area, with a mysterious box sat in the middle of a field, soon they discover they are trying to fight back against a group of rich people that are looking forward to their hunting trip.
Crystal (Gilpin) soon turns out to be one of the strongest members of the strangers, being able to fight back, searching for an answer to why they have been select, where they are and proving to be a lot harder to kill than the rest of the group.
Thoughts on The Hunt
Characters – Crystal is one of the random strangers that has been taken for this game, she does head off on her own once she awakes, she proves to be difficult to kill, knowing how to get through different people bs and isn’t going down without a fight. Athena is the woman leading the hunt, she has planned, picked and set everything up, waiting for her chance to spill the motivation behind the selection. When it comes to the other characters, we meet the strangers who give out small clues to who they are, while the hunters give us clues to why they are doing this, letting the leading two get the most scenes.
Performances – Betty Gilpin is wonderful in the leading role, which sees her holding back a lot, while letting her actions speak louder, while Hilary Swank is meant to be more of a surprise, though the trailer gives everything away with her appearance and she is great to see in this role. The supporting cast get plenty of laughs along the way.
Story – The story here follows the 12 strangers that have been taken to be used in a hunting situation for the rich elite to hunt down for their own pleasure. This is a simple side of the story, with the wild introduction that doesn’t let you know which character is going to be the lead character and once we learn who it will be, we don’t get bogged down with the standard hunting situation, we get well into the bigger picture and why everything has unfolding, which is a clear message about how to react to what we say in any tone.
Action/Horror – The action here is fantastic to watch, with the final showdown being a true highlight of the film, being completely engaging and showing the characters look like they have been hurt during it, we do get a lot more comedy that expected with the satire style of the film, which shows the horror of what is going on to them.
Settings – The film does take us to the woodland area, which is part of the mystery about where we are, with the characters needing to learn this along the way, it works because it could have been anywhere.
Scene of the Movie – The final showdown.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The hiding of Athena’s face for most of the movie, even though the trailer gave away who it was.
Final Thoughts – This is a wonderful satire that will get laughs that will make you think about who you word things in your own life, with a outstanding leading performance from Betty Gilpin.
Overall: Entertaining Throughout.
