The Hunt | Film Review

Hey Guys x

When I went to see 'The Invisible Man', this film was advertised before it, and it looked so interesting that I immediately wanted to watch it.

Twelve strangers are kidnapped and wake up with no knowledge of their surroundings, when suddenly they are forced to fight for their lives against a group of people hunting and killing humans for sport. However, one of the twelve is ready to fight back. And when she does, no one sees it coming.

Based on the premise above, I thought that I was going to end up really liking this film, and I ended up not liking it at all.

I really liked how it started. Both the plane scene, and the scene in the field were a really good way to begin this story. It was a good introduction, and it sets up where you think the rest of the story is going.

Right off the bat, I loved the death scenes, and the fact that the deaths didn't discriminate. And by that I mean that, it doesn't matter if you know these actors or not - everyone and anyone can die. And I loved that aspect of it.
Because of this, every single thing has an undercurrent of suspicion that makes the film really intriguing and exciting.

But from here, things take a turn. Everything starts to feel a bit disjointed - it's like a few different stories are being told at the same time and you don't really know which one to follow. And as well as that, you don't really know which story the film is trying to tell.

The film is stated as being both 'comedic' and 'satirical', and it does a much better job of the latter than the former. I can't think of a single scene that felt like it was genuinely funny. Even what was supposed to be dark humour didn't really land for me.

While the actress, Betty Gilpin did a great job or portraying the character of Crystal (our protagonist), the character of Crystal isn't a particularly good protagonist. Yes she is our quote unquote badass, but her entire personality trait is that she is 'tough'. While it worked for some of the film, it didn't enable me to like the character at all. And while I didn't need to like her for the film to work, it would have been nice to feel supportive of her, which I didn't.

And I guess this comes from the fact that I wasn't quite sure who the film wanted me to root for. As certain things get revealed through the movie, and the political aspect becomes more clear, I didn't quite know who the film was trying to appeal to.

Speaking of the political aspect, I didn't really mind it. It was different to what you expect (given that it seems to appeal more towards a right-wing audience than a left-wing), and because this is different, I feel like it gives the film a lot of freedom. Once things were revealed, they weren't confined to certain boundaries.
However, my problem with the political aspect of the film was that I felt like it should either have been pushed a bit further, or drawn back a bit further. With the amount of it currently in the film, all it really does is take away from the main plot, rather than add to it. I would have respected and understood it a bit more if everything was slightly more explicit.

And this political aspect is completely wrapped up in these characters. What confused me about this was that the film made one group the victims and the other the antagonists. The problem with this comes when you kill off most of the victims (or protagonists) at the beginning of the film. The antagonists (or villains) get the best personalities, we get to know them more, we get to understand them, and this makes no sense to me unless we're actually supposed to root for these people who are doing deplorable things.

And while none of the twists in the film had any lasting effects, it is still a much more enjoyable film when you actually understand what's going on.

Overall, I see where the filmmakers were going with the film, but the execution just didn't work. I would have loved the film if it started the same way and then went on to be exactly what was advertised in the description - people fighting for their lives.

4.5/10

Lou