The Stream: Predictable story, sometimesy comedy with an unenthused protagonist

The Big Screen: Violence abounds with witty one-liners about the political climate

The Final Bill: Uninspiring, violent thriller that provides a couple introspective chuckles

-S2S: Movie Review
Director: Craig Zobel
Writers: Nick Cuse, Damon Lindelof
Stars: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz | See full cast & crew 
Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes
Genre: Thriller, Action, Horror
Rating: R (Violence, Gore and Language)
Notable Trailers: Spiral, Antlers, Top Gun: Maverick, Run Sweetheart Run, Candyman, Tenet

This review goes out to all you deplorables and nasty women out there! The Hunt is a satirical commentary on the current political climate of social interactions in a bipartisan system. Here’s the premise of the film: Twelve strangers wake up in the wilderness confused about where they are and how they got there. Madness ensues, but let’s figure out what’s going on while someone tries to kill us during “The Hunt”. That’s the general premise of the film and the rest should be kept secret. Apparently, this movie is loosely based on a short story from 1924 by Richard Connell “The Most Dangerous Game”. Now that you have the gist, let’s get to meat.

The Hunt has an interesting concept, but it falls short in a movie genre that seems so ubiquitous. Blumhouse continues to saturate the market with their average-at-best horror/thrillers. This film idea is too close to the more recent Purge political films, a mix of Saw (without the games), while also providing the viewer with the “white version” of Get Out. In a way, the social commentary that this movie brings in theory is clever in its satire. The one liners in this film are clever but not laugh out loud funny. In fact, the quips, at times, are so stereotypical it’s annoying. On the other hand, I know they were shooting for that aspect as well. This movie has a blatant message aimed at skewering what’s wrong with both the left and right wing political followers, Conservatives and Liberals. Again, it will provide a good quick coffee table chat for co-workers but not a lasting impression.

Now, it must be said that this movie had a delayed debut due to the unfortunate mass shootings that occurred in this country last year. Unfortunately for The Hunt, it’s opening comes during the latest world health pandemic. This movie just can’t catch a break. Needless to say, this movie will not have a big opening, and it probably shouldn’t anyway.

The best part of The Hunt is by far its brutal nature and gory killings. For those of you that enjoy that, you’ll get a kick out of parts of this movie. For the rest of us, we have to rely upon the storyline and plot. Honestly, there isn’t much of that. We’ve all seen this movie before. I wake up. Where am I? Who is doing this to me? Let me try to break free and shoot my way out. Blah. Blah. Blah. The only difference here is the leading lady, Betty Gilpin. Gilpin’s character is interesting to say the least. I can’t say her character is loveable or even likeable, but she’s who we got. I found her character cool but also difficult to follow as well. Ok, I was annoyed with the terrible accent and lifeless persona and that’s hard to say for a short movie. I won’t say her portrayal was poor, but it wasn’t someone a viewer wants to root for, which is something we are accustomed to doing in these types of films. Don’t even get me started on the rest of the basic cast.

Long story short, this movie was made for Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime. It has enough raunchy comedy, mud slinging and violence to be a film people will talk about but not enough originality for people to have to risk exposure to COVID-19. This movie fits the politically tense climate in which we live, but also, in a way, it doesn’t push the envelope enough to make it interesting enough to purchase a ticket. Handful of popcorn definitely fits this movie. Watch The Hunt when it comes to a streaming service near you.