The Hunt

The Hunt presents itself as a classic forest chase, but (unfortunately) it's not and apart from the first 15 minutes it has nothing much to do with hunting. If the film is special in any way, it's that when you see a person as the main character at the beginning, the director mercilessly shoots them off the screen after a few seconds (Emma Roberts was here for about 20 seconds, wtf??). Nothing goes the way the viewer thinks and in this it way mocks conventional films of a similar genre, and further by portraying the "bad guys" as a bunch of morons. The further the film went, the more I stopped caring, and by the end I was getting pretty bored. From the initial expected chase, to being captured in a refugee camp (the screenwriter was high?) to a woman single-handedly shooting 10 guys like nothing. The script is pretty lame, as is the unnecessarily over-the-top self-awareness of Betty Gilpin and pretty much all the other victims, as in "yay, I'm kidnapped, I've been waiting for this all along and I know exactly what to do now". The film is saved by solid visuals, imaginative Hunger Games-style trappings and occasional gore that's just right, otherwise it's a classic, uninteresting B-movie. (03/20/2020)

The first half is a nice and unpredictable semi-parody that relies on the audience’s familiarity with the rules of the genre, but it’s not afraid to overturn them for fun (and it doesn’t feel inappropriate). In the second half, after the most important cards have been revealed, the film falls into its own mirror and, despite the persisting quality of the craftsmanship and the insight, it can no longer surprise. The heroine is convincingly badass, but Hilary Swank’s attractive character (metaphorically and literally) had some more potential and I would have liked a bolder ending, given the concept of rewriting the expectations. Overall, though, it’s surprisingly good. 65% (03/22/2020)

I have no idea why horror is listed as one of the film's genres. Black comedy fits much better. Anyway, I had fun while wading through all that blood, and I don't care what it says about me. After all, when the Americans are able to make fun of all their taboo topics once every ten years, I’m ecstatic about how different it is from the constantly celebrated patriotism, riding on a giant wave of pathos. What's more, I loved Crystal’s approach, and I still have to think about how frustrating it must be when you're talking to someone whose head (or at least a substantial part of it) is gone all of a sudden. The film definitely deserves to have a higher rating. (05/30/2020)

Disparagingly controversial film, which we almost didn't see at all (more of a PR stunt), while there are plenty of other slaughter movies every year. What's worse, not only the reviews were dismal and it took very little for me to completely skip the film. Which I would now quite regret, as I was having a good time from the beginning and the almost satirical style of The Hunt suited me nicely. Yes, I just raised my eyebrows at the political jibber-jabber, and many of them didn't need to be in the film at all. But otherwise, it's like Zombieland without the zombies, which is the highest praise... 7/10 (06/15/2020)

We've already had manhunting as a "hobby for the elite", but The Hunt takes this theme from a slightly different perspective. The film offers plenty of black-humour scenes and a pretty solid unpredictability – you really don't know who will die, when and how, which is a big plus. On the whole, I was bothered by the passages with too much talking that unnecessarily stretched out the running time. The Hunt is one of those films where I can understand any rating. Otherwise, Betty Gilpin pushed the envelope a little too hard at times with her bad-ass-look, whatever. (05/21/2020)