So this is the movie that the right doesn’t want you to see? The most talked-about movie that nobody has actually seen? Well, I’ve seen it and I can tell you it’s not the right-wing bashing film THEY make it out to be. It’s also not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

The Hunt was directed by Nick Zobel and written by Nic Cuse and Damon Lindelof of HBO’s Watchmen and Lost fame. It is a hyper-violent 90 minutes that plays out like a demented Hunger Games or even the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man. Sure it paints it’s “deplorable” hand-picked contestants in a certain unfavorable light but it also pokes fun at the left and some of the ridiculous ideologies they hold as well. I watched this film and thought of it more as sci-fi and not as a political statement. I went in thinking the MAGA crowd is gonna HATE this but left cheering on the main character Crystal. A tough Southern redneck played by GLOW’s own superstar wrestler Betty Gilpin. It’s the elitists she is up against in the game that are the real villains here.

The basic idea of the film looks good on paper and it may have played out better in a 30-45 minute Twilight Zone episode. My problem is there is no backstory or buildup here to the main players. No time for character development. We are dumped right into the action and boom game players are getting picked off left and right. That’s not to say I wasn’t entertained. A few twists and turns and who do we trust elements do make this a fun ride. A fun ride that would better be taken on a rainy day at home sitting on your couch with nothing else to do that is. The violence is not for the weak at heart and the overall message of the film really has no focus. I admired how it took shots at both the “deplorables” and the “snowflakes”. It was an equal opportunity offender.

Hillary Swank plays Athena who seems to be the ring leader of this elitist group that uses humans as chess pieces in the hunting game. Two thoughts I had while watching this were “man she’s fallen a lot since Million Dollar Baby” and “Richard Dawson did this better in the Running Man” There’s a cool Kill Bill style fight scene where she shows off her Next Karate Kid skills though.

All in all The Hunt is just meh. I walked out with the “I didn’t hate it” mentality. Will I ever revisit this film? Doubtful. Will I recommend it to my casual I never go to the theater friends? Nah. Is it as controversial as the marketing team wants you to believe? Not at all. The Hunt is just on extended Twilight Zone episode. And not one of the classic ones.

About The Hunt 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.

In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt ordinary Americans for sport. But the elites’ master plan is about to be derailed because one of The Hunted, Crystal (Betty Gilpin, GLOW), knows The Hunters’ game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman (two-time Oscar® winner Hilary Swank) at the center of it all.

From Jason Blum, the producer of Get Out and The Purge series, and Damon Lindelof, creator of the HBO series Watchmen and co-creator of the TV series Lost, comes a timely and provocative new satirical thriller that has already ignited a national conversation. Now, it’s time to decide for yourself. The Hunt is written by Lindelof and his fellow Watchmen collaborator Nick Cuse and is directed by Craig Zobel (Z for Zachariah, The Leftovers). Blum produces for his Blumhouse Productions alongside Lindelof. The film is executive produced by Zobel, Cuse and Steven R. Molen. Director: Craig Zobel Writers: Nick Cuse, Damon Lindelof Stars: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz

The Hunt will be in Theaters, Friday, March 13th

Visit https://www.TheHunt.movie for more info.