Review: The Hunt

A bunch of elite, overly PC liberals (led by Hilary Swank) have apparently drugged a bunch of perceived Conservatives they refer to as ‘Deplorables’ and dumped them out in the middle of a field whereby they will be hunted down by the Elites. One such ‘Deplorable’ is played by Betty Gilpin, a rather resourceful woman who keeps hearing word of a possible conspiracy theory that might turn things entirely on their head. Amy Madigan and Reed Birney play two of the liberals, whilst amongst the ‘Deplorables’ we have Ike Barinholtz, Justin Hartley, Ethan Suplee, and Emma Roberts as (and I shit you not) a character credited as ‘Yoga Pants’.

 

Eventually earning a release in 2020, this supposed satire from director Craig Zobel (who directed an episode of TV’s “Westworld”) and writers Nick Cuse & Damon Lindelof (TV’s occasionally brilliant, more frequently maddening “Lost”) got itself into a lot of hot water with the President of the United States at the time Donald Trump, and pissed off a lot of Conservatives. Who hadn’t seen the film. Because it hadn’t been released yet. Yep, people got pissed off over a trailer. Nonetheless, a couple of mass shootings combined with the social media hysteria saw the film shelved for a bit. Since it’s been released, most sane people who have actually seen the film realised that the film wasn’t anything remotely like the trailer suggested, and ironically the people most upset about it would likely be the best audience for it. Although the filmmakers claim to have some kind of “South Park”-esque ‘let’s make fun of both sides’ ethos going on here, the fact that the film’s chief protagonist is lumped in with the Conservatives for 98% of the film, and the fact that there isn’t a single Democrat/Liberal character portrayed in a remotely sympathetic light, ultimately makes this one a pretty pro-Conservative film in my view. Yeah, the Conservative cred of the character played by Betty Gilpin ultimately turns out to be a bit questionable, but by then it’s too late because you’ve already spent the entire film lumping her in with the rest. For the most part you assume she’s a Conservative and thus you’re being asked to sympathise with a Conservative. That’d be fine and dandy – why can’t a Conservative person be considered sympathetic? They aren’t inherently evil, hell they aren’t inherently hivemind either. It’s absurd to think otherwise – except that the filmmakers as I’ve said, claim that their film doesn’t take sides. Their point was supposed to illustrate the deep political divide in Trump’s America. That’s not the film we actually get, not even once the true nature of ‘The Hunt’ is finally revealed. The film we do get is completely confused. Thus, the film is a failure in its mission and can’t possibly get a good grade from me. And it’s a poorly scripted, stiltedly acted bore anyway. I would’ve expected something better from two guys who worked on “Lost”, but then one remembers how crushingly disappointing the finale to that show was, let alone how consistent the seasons were after the first – absolutely brilliant – season. So perhaps I should stop using “Lost” as a measure for something expected to be good.

 

There’s simply not enough going on here to sustain a feature-length film, let alone a good one. The opening five minutes are amusing and bloody (including two bits of clever misdirection), but it quickly runs out of gas and is all snark dialogue all of the time, which grows tiring almost instantly. The dialogue is particularly heavy-handed and inorganic. This is TV skit-length stuff, and the skit ain’t that original, really (It’s basically “Most Dangerous Game” or “Turkey Shoot” for the Trump era). If the filmmakers are trying to take pot-shots at both sides of the political spectrum, they’ve failed to make the film seem evenly targeted. Only the more squeamish members of the Conservative side would likely recoil at what we’re presented here, at least politically. If they’ve deliberately chosen to make the film from a more Conservative point of view, they’ve not made a terribly good or enjoyable film. Lead actress Betty Gilpin is kinda hot but annoying and unsubtle, it’s like she knows she’s in a bit of a piss-take, which isn’t the right approach to take (See: Leslie Nielsen in almost anything after 1980). Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank only shows up at the climax and really, really shouldn’t have. The rest either aren’t in the film enough, or are in it way too much, giving amateurish, unsubtle performances.

 

Despite all the hype, this one’s mostly just a bore, and not even a spectacularly bad one. It’s too insignificant to even get all that angry about. It’s thin, poorly acted, not terribly original, and delivered with a sledgehammer. Some of the cartoonishly gory violence is fun I guess, so long as you’re pre-disposed to find violence ‘fun’.

 

Rating: D+