{"id":20167,"date":"2020-03-12T15:04:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T22:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20167"},"modified":"2020-03-12T15:04:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T22:04:42","slug":"the-hunt-isnt-worth-pursuing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20167","title":{"rendered":"THE HUNT Isn\u2019t Worth Pursuing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The disturbing concept of humans being hunted for sport has\nbeen used in various stories and movies over the past century. It appears as\nthough the first story to arrive was The Most Dangerous Game<\/em> by Richard\nConnell in 1924. Since that time, there has been a film adaptation, as well as\nother features using a similar premise to good effect. Hard Target<\/em>\n(1993) was a stylish and fun action flick, and the Japanese title Battle\nRoyale<\/em> (2000), added a bit of deeper meaning and subtext to the scenario.\nThe latest tale to follow suit is The Hunt<\/em>. It was originally slated to\nbe released back in September, but a mass shooting incident led to a delay in\nits release. Unfortunately, any extra time the filmmakers might have had to\nwork on the picture hasn\u2019t helped. It\u2019s an ineffectual satire that never finds\nthe proper tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie begins with series of text messages between a\ngroup of well-off and elite members of society discussing their intentions of\nkilling those whom they deem undesirable. It then introducers a group of\nconfused strangers who awaken in a clearing. Early on, they come under attack\nby unseen forces and separate into a few factions; some of the more memorable\nindividuals include Gary (Ethan Suplee), Staten Island (Ike Barinholtz), and\nCrystal (Betty Gilpin). There is talk among them about rumors of a \u201cManor House\u201d\nand a woman named Athena (Hilary Swank), who runs a business to assist the rich\nin hunting down the poor. The unfortunate targets attempt to escape from their\npursuers, figure out exactly where they are, and fight back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie appears to want to satirize all political\npersuasions as the haves and have-nots square off, but the characters\nthemselves aren\u2019t memorable. It jumps from person to person from the beginning\nand there isn\u2019t much information given about anyone. This tactic makes it\ndifficult for the actual lead to make an initial impression. As time passes,\none individual begins to stand out, but then the feature takes another turn and\ndecides to focus on the hunters and their backstory. This is all put together\nin a jumbled fashion that never gels. It\u2019s enough to make one think that there\nhas been some serious tinkering and reediting going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And when the film attempts to address real issues that such a scenario brings up, it does so in an ineffectual manner. There are insults thrown around by the leads about the villainous intellectual elites, as well as barbs directed by the hunters at their prey. Most of the comments fall flat, and many of them don\u2019t make sense to boot. References are also made to current events and issues like immigration, but none are sharply written. The script can never seem to clarify what it\u2019s trying to get at, and even contradicts itself over the course of the running time. It doesn\u2019t really want to deal with any of the issues raised and instead only pokes and prods viewer to provoke a shock response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also strange to see such serious subject interspersed between\ngags involving some less-than-brilliant characters being blown up or impaled on\nsharp objects in incredibly graphic ways. Instead of being a biting satire, the\nmovie ends up being a tonal mess. It never seems to know when it should poke\nfun at itself or when to properly address the concerns it raises, choosing the\nwrong approach at the wrong time more often than not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, is there anything positive to say at all? While it\u2019s not\na good thing for the characters featured, at least the movie moves by very briskly,\nas the protagonist travels from one violent scenario to the next with barely a\nmoment of real comprehension or examination. The screenplay tries to throw in a\nfew twists, although you won\u2019t care about the characters enough for these\ndevices to make an impression. And the final showdown between the lead and\nvillain features some decent fight choreography as the two grapple and bash\neach other up in the antagonist\u2019s Manor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that\u2019s about the only complimentary comments this\nreviewer can throw in the movie\u2019s direction. Those who find the premise\ninteresting would be better served by the previous features mentioned at the\nbeginning of the review, as ultimately, The Hunt<\/em> isn\u2019t worth pursuing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The disturbing concept of humans being hunted for sport has been used in various stories and movies over the past century. It appears as though the first story to arrive was The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell in 1924. Since that time, there has been a film adaptation, as well as other features using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,697,2369,2640,4660,7092,8875,9319,9505,9661,14267,17693,21053,21054,21057,21058],"class_list":["post-20167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-action","tag-battle-royale","tag-betty-gilpin","tag-comedy","tag-ethan-suplee","tag-hard-target","tag-horror","tag-hunting","tag-ike-barinholtz","tag-most-dangerous-game","tag-satire","tag-the-hunt","tag-the-hunt-film-review","tag-the-hunt-movie-review","tag-the-hunt-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}