The Hunt Review: This satirical action thriller is a one-time watch

3/5

Story: A group of rich liberals kidnap twelve poor conservatives from different parts of the United States in order to hunt them for sport. When most of them fall dead, one woman takes up arms and fights back.

Review: The Hunt, directed by Craig Zobel and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof, was originally scheduled to hit theatres in the United States in September 2019. But Universal Pictures decided to push the release owing to public backlash following the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings. However, even before its release, The Hunt had become a topic of debate when the then US President Donald Trump, without mentioning the film’s name, tweeted, “The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos...They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country!" But after watching the film, one is left to wonder what was all the fuss about?

Loosely based on Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game, the film opens with an online group conversation where one person says, “At least the hunt is coming up. Nothing better than going out to The Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables”. This sets the context of the film wherein a group of liberal elites hunt working-class conservatives for sport.

The ‘hunted’ are chosen from different parts of the United States. They wake up ín a clearing, with no knowledge of where they are or how they got there. And one by one, they fall dead. But one woman decides to fight back and find the person behind it all.

There are no good people in the film. You see different characters having allegiance to contrasting ideologies, including an individual owning seven guns because he believes it is his constitutional right, a man shouting “climate change is real” before a dying person, and a woman who gets annoyed when her husband says “black people” instead of African-Americans. Through these characters, the writers and the director offer a commentary on the political and social divide in the USA. But after a point, it ends up being superficial, and although the film deals with strong and pertinent topics, it falls short of reaching its full potential. The writing lacks depth and fails to flesh out the characters well.

That being said, there are some thrilling action sequences in the film. The violence starts right at the beginning when one of the elites uses her silhouettes to take down a man. Every character is seen holding a rifle, a crossbow or a hand grenade. There is blood and gore, but not as much as what we are used to watching in several other Hollywood movies.

Betty Gilpin essays the role of Crystal May Creasey, one of the hunted, in the film. She is the one who keeps the movie going and delivers a convincing performance. Hillary Stone plays Athena Stone, the leader of the liberals. The film also features Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Wayne Duvall, Ethan Suplee, and Ike Barinholtz, among others. There isn’t much to talk about the technical aspects of the film except the music. The music by Nathan Barr is peppy, refreshing, and syncs well with the overall mood of the movie.

Verdict: The Hunt is not without flaws and could have offered a lot more than what it does. But if you are in the mood for some action and violence, then this is an option worth exploring.