The Hunt is a controversial movie that in the end wasn’t all that controversial and instead it’s an entertaining enough horror-thriller-comedy but ultimately not all that memorable.
The Hunt
(2020)
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller, Comedy
Universal Pictures | R –90 min. – $0.00 | June 10, 2020
Date Published: 06/12/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.5/5 |
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Note: This review contains some PLOT SPOILERS, so please be aware. Plot Synopsis: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are — or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted, Crystal (BETTY GILPIN), turns the tables on her pursuers. Review: The Hunt, if not for the fake controversy, would’ve just been another horror-comedy that would come and go. However, kind of came and went due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the studio making the movie available on demand only a week after its theatrical release. And in terms of the movie: it was… fine. Conceptually it’s nothing new outside of adding the political element but the gore and kills, albeit not entirely imaginative with several people’s heads being blown off, had a fun darkly comedic tint to them. Plus this is a movie — the first 15 minutes anyway — subverted expectations the right way, with somewhat recognizable actors getting offed with only a few minutes of screen time. Acting wise, there are really only two major players with the rest being killed off in fairly quick fashion. Betty Gilpin, save for some odd expressions, served well in the lead role and holds her own with minimal development while Hilary Swank, who’s biggest contribution is during the finale, has her moments. The fight between the pair has some brutal chorography that might not match with John Wick or anything, but was still entertaining, and a good change from other scenes which mainly consisted of gunshots. The Hunt was directed by Craig Zobel, who helmed the creepy drama Compliance (a film I coincidentally just watched the other day), from a script written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the latter better known for Lost and more recently, Watchmen for HBO. From a writing and directing angle, nothing really stands out. The political commentary is kind of just obvious on both sides, but credit that at least it was equally applied, though the liberal side comes out of it for the worse, you know hunting down and killing humans over a conspiracy theory. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital Copy. Not a whole lot here, just three featurettes: Crafting The Hunt (5:04), Death Scene Breakdowns (2:36) and Athena vs. Crystal: Hunter or Hunted? (2:42) all with behind-the-scenes footage and on-set interviews with members of the cast and crew. |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| The Hunt wakes up in a field on Blu-ray presented with a 2.38 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture here looks rather good, detail on both close-ups and more distant shots are sharp, colors are fairly bright in keeping with the more comedic elements including the red CGI blood while skin tones have a natural appearance. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The movie comes with a probably stronger-than-necessary DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track which does output clear dialogue via the center channel and some fine depth for when the people are being hunted and gunshots or bows come whiffing by the camera. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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The Hunt is a controversial movie that in the end wasn’t all that controversial and instead it’s an entertaining enough horror-thriller-comedy but ultimately not all that memorable either, though wouldn’t mind seeing Betty Gilpin getting more action-oriented roles. |