THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
We think we’re smart when finding new information and choose to share it before someone else does. But if you find out it ain’t legit after spreading it, that’s a domino effect no one wants to prepare for.
PLOT
2020’s The Hunt follows Athena Stone, part of a wealthy elite of people that get fired for a leaked group chat involving a joke of hunting people for sport. Her superiors took it seriously due to conspiracy websites suspecting it to be legit, especially when one used the term ‘deplorables’ in the chat. Wanting to get even for something that wasn’t her fault, she decides to host an actual hunt with the friends that were fired alongside her and target those responsible for spreading the false accusation. Her friends include: Liberty (Teri Wyble), Martin (Dean West), Mike (Usman Ally), Richard (Glenn Howerton) and Ted (Steve Coulter). Their targets are named after credited aliases and birth names: ‘Yoga Pants’ (Emma Roberts), ‘Staten Island’ (Ike Barinholtz), ‘Vanilla Nice’ (Sturgill Simpson), ‘Big Red’ (Kate Nowlin), Boxer (Christopher Berry), Trucker (Justin Hartley), ‘Dead Sexy’ (Syliva Grace Crim), Randy (Jason Kirkpatrick), ‘Bandana Man’ (Walker Babington), Don, Gary and Crystal May Creasey. Athena takes a personal interest in the latter due to how she singled her out on social media. A year after the firings does the event actually happen, they drop the victims in Croatia but the night before it begins, they kill Randy on the plane trip there due to waking up early. On the day of, the targets arm themselves but most are quickly outgunned. Yoga Pants & Bandana Man get taken down via rifle, whereas Trucker gets killed from a land mine. Dead Sexy falls into a spike pit twice and chooses to shoot herself to escape from a slower death. Boxer is shot with an arrow and finished off with a grenade. Big Red & Vanilla Nice join Staten Island to a service station, only to get killed by the owners Miranda & Julius (Amy Madigan & Reed Birney) who are in on the event as well. Crystal is able to overcome them upon arrival, when they lie to her saying she’s in Arkansas. She soon finds out she’s in Croatia when she and Gary board a train of refugees. Mike is present pretending to be an immigrant, which Gary quickly suspects to be a crisis actor to maintain the illusion that the victims are crazy. He kills him first with a grenade he had on him before departing on the train. Crystal explains her ordeal to Croatian soldiers and is allowed to stay in a refugee camp until she and Don get picked up by an US Embassy representative named Oliver (Macon Blair). However, even she deduces him to be in on it when he converses with them on wondering why they were picked. Only after she kicks him out of the car and run him over does she confirm suspicion because when looking at the trunk, Gary’s dead body is present alongside bribe money and a map. They reach Oliver’s intended destination and not only does she incapacitate the technical consultant Sgt. Dale, but also takes out the remaining participants except Athena. She tricks Creasey to kill Don when calling him by name via radio. Crystal then kills Dale after he tells the coordinates to where Stone is. When meeting her at her manor, she hears her reasoning and assures her she grabbed the wrong woman with the same name. They end up fighting each other until both impale each other with a blade from a food processor. Athena ends up bleeding out first, whereas Crystal is able to cauterize herself to survive. The film ends with her taking Stone’s belongings returning home with her jet.
THOUGHTS
This was one of the many movies I wanted to see in theaters before the Covid-19 pandemic took that opportunity from moviegoers only a week after its release. My big regret was not seeing it sooner because this was better than I expected. Director Craig Zebel and the writing pair of Damian Lindelof & Nick Cuse are able to craft a very creative cat & mouse chase which in turn is a relentless action thriller because the need to survive in order to find the meaning of the truth itself was quite a ball to get through. When you get the chance to pay attention of both perspectives on who is the predator and prey was quite shocking because it boldly points out the wrongs when you don’t get your facts right with only half the info and make consequences towards others that never deserved any in the first place. The big kick out of it is seeing it play out between liberals and conservatives. The liberals were ironically the original victims of the situation and they become the enemy by striking over the top revenge over a misunderstanding. Before the hunt becomes a reality, they all seemed like chill people until their lives get ruined. The one that was visibly affected most was Athena. Hilary Swank was refreshing when walking into the role of a character that becomes evil incarnate because Athena was so infuriated with losing her job after years of loyalty that she wanted everyone to make she suffer the way she felt. Her coldness was scary as hell because no one should go this far for a massive accident. Of course, she doesn’t care about that because she’s all about finding her own form of satisfaction. Everyone else joins in on it because they think ‘why not?’ and that’s easily twisted on their end. The difference between her and them though is her lack of hesitance, whereas they couldn’t help embracing. Ironically, it was another minor confusion that set up their final fall. Now you like Ethan Suplee for making Gary on point of being observant enough to pick up on the unusual and it was easy to enjoy Don because Wayne Duvall showed he was the least paranoid, which made his death the saddest. The true lead ended up being Crystal because Betty Gilpin did a great job in making her the most capable final girl of the decade’s first half of filmography. With this woman having a military experience in Afghanistan, it was her biggest advantage that she used well from start to finish. Her only regret is not finding certainty when it came to Don, as Athena didn’t even feel the need to confirm when they meet. Ironically had she looked a little further into the target she was after, she could’ve gotten away with this scheme and got the right one. Because she didn’t, Crystal survives and goes on with her life. After all that had happened, I’m sure she will put the knowledge of this experience to an advantage however she wishes. This movie has a lot of things that make sense, but then there were way too many things that don’t. For instance, the elites are complete idiots to not handcuff any of their targets during the flight. They may have not guaranteed someone like Randy would wake up, but it’s on them for not being precautious if they want to get away with it. Add the fact Boxer ignores Don’s plea the box could’ve been a trap is bad because when waking up gagged, it’d be hard to not be on high alert with the unknown. Hell, I don’t think the gags are even needed if they’re given the keys instantly. It’s also dumb for Julius to ask Crystal if she wanted to fill up gas when there was a sign outside saying ‘no gas’? That’s gotta be the biggest brain fart to be done when trying to play nice. And it’s honestly dumber than not having gas station cameras. And if Mike is gonna throw himself on the field as a crisis actor, it’s crazy he doesn’t throw the grenade at the remaining two once they got off the train. That’s sadder than not being able to get the grenade out of his pants within 15 seconds until it went off. There also should’ve been porta-potties if they’re didn’t want to go outside and put themselves at risk. Ignore this, then you’re still in for a good time. Lastly, the only other mistake Crystal makes is not finding another way inside before taking the from gate. Cameras or not, it’s crazy she didn’t even try. In short, 2020’s The Hunt is an impressive action thriller for being creative with its political message. If you like something bold to be said, see this now.
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