Universal Pictures, suspense thriller The Hunt is a film of risky proposition to the audience at any point in time. Something like this would never have been conceived as a theatrical release if not for the pedigree of being produced by Jason Blum, directed by Craig Zobel (The Leftovers) and co-written by Damon Lindelof.
The premise of the movie is deceptively simple, a group of liberal elites gather twelve right-wing caricatures and hunt them for sport. Only one of the hunted is a silent predator (Crystal) of her own played by Betty Gilpin (Glow). Gilpin plays her character methodical and with such a drawl that she comes off like a female Frank Castle in the best way possible. While plot and meaning aren’t hard to follow, The Hunt cleverly plays both sides of a political moment in our country. Watching the hunted be killed in spectacular death scenes quickly puts you in an awkward position but as each begins to reveal their biases and opinions you see what the point of all of it was. Even the elites who hunt on the manor aren’t without their flaws which makes us see all these people are the extremes of an argument.
Our intriguing protagonist of the film is flanked by tons of recognizable faces such as Ethan Suplee, Justin Hartley, Emma Roberts, and Glen Howerton delivering brief but enjoyable moments. Then you get to the story’s main antagonist Athena, played by Hilary Swank. She’s wonderfully angry and Swank’s physicality in the climactic fight scene is Fight Club level sh**.
As a film itself, The Hunt is a roaring pleasant surprise. It takes B-movie tropes of story, wacky visual effect, and strengthens it all with blockbuster pacing and well written satirical dialogue. It’s a shame the film didn’t get to have its theatrical moment in the sun as it released right as health crisis lockdowns were beginning.
My only downside about this Blu-Ray release is the number of extras. Only three to be exact. One is a reel of serviceable interviews with Blum and Lindelof on why they put together this project in the first place. The other two are breakdowns of the casts death scenes and an extended look at the Gilpin vs Swank manor brawl. None of the above is very meaty and those looking for basics such as director commentary will be disappointed. Basically, we get decent special features on the disc. We just don’t get enough of them for a feature that clearly has a lot going on. Also if anything warranted a 4k release it’s this movie, only we don’t have any UHD available.
The Hunt is well worth a watch this weekend. It’s compelling and bookmarked by surprise moments of delightful gore. While a story like this might get criticism in the current climate of important things, sometimes you need a junk food movie to help you unwind, and if it makes you think then all the better.
