The Hunt Review

March 23, 2020 at 8:06pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a rather odd sort of satire film that aims to look at and mock the American political party divide in terms of the exaggerated beliefs for either side of the spectrum. It picks some of the properties one might have depending on which side they lean on, and then amplifies that to a high degree. The ones being hunted are typically more outspoken and I suppose conservative in nature whereas the hunters are the liberal leaning folks. What one might consider a flipped perspective on the situation.

Any political or personal belief elements aside, the film does have a number of other issues. It aims to perhaps provide insight to the individual beliefs, but these were largely weak in their delivery. The plot was also really light and it burned out its stock of characters far too fast. In these hunting types of movies you get a little bit of a connection to those being eliminated whereas it’s somewhat of a frenzy here. There’s a neat tracked shot towards the start, but once that shock moment is done it gets bizarre in how silly it becomes.

It came across as though it was trying to be serious at times, and then would do some insanely awkward gags that felt like they were out of a low budget indie project. It’s so weird, and there needed to be a better balance or a little consistency. It also felt insanely predictable once the godly untouchable lead was showcased. That is Crystal (Betty Gilpin) who while put on a good performance was dealing with such an awfully boring narrative. I really liked the concept of this one, yet it wasn’t executed in a particularly clever way which is ultimately disappointing.

This has what I would consider to be a shorter run time which is absolutely fine for this type of movie, if it were funnier. With this short time I have to wonder why there were some off-screen deaths or why more time wasn’t taken in a number of scenes. It was like they were rushing along to the point where you lightly hit on some areas and then they’re gone.

There’s no sense of tension, no worry and that’s kind of important for a film that’s about hunting. I mean, even the initial setup isn’t at all a hunt and more of being in a shooting gallery. There was a part of that scene which was more cringe like than comical, and it’s stuff like that in this that I go back to the gag elements that were just stupid. Some of the dialogue was weak and we never got a sense of scale or even intimacy for the characters.

It just felt like I was placed in the general vicinity and it was not appealing. In general this all seemed like it was insanely low in budget, with some parts that were just terrible to take in. There’s no sense of mystery once the opening tracking sequence is concluded, and it rolls by. I will once again mention that Gilpin was good here, she had some fun surprise moments such as with a cashier or when in a vehicle.

The Conclusion

The Hunt’s attempt at being a clever satirical look at modern culture in America largely fails to deliver any sort of intelligent dialogue on the subject while entirely lacking in its execution. The narrative is rather weak, as are the characters involved.

The lead was fine, but stuck in a rather pointless movie that provided no challenge to the character. There’s no tension, no sense of mystery and it burns out the precious resource of characters it has way too fast. This provides a weakened and very light sort of hunt that doesn’t hit the comedic heights it continues to try and aspire to.

I felt that the concept was actually really interesting, and having been given to better hands this could have been an alright or even solid commentary on today’s American society. Instead, we’re given a very forgettable and rather dreadful movie. I could see this being rebooted properly some time down the road though, that one would be interesting to see.

The Hunt Review at Home with Standard Viewing

Rating Overall: 3.5