Review: "The Hunt" Doesn't Offer Enough to Justify the Kill

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Delayed from its original September 2019 release because of potential partisan tensions, the politically minded-horror-thriller-comedy "The Hunt" finally gets its release, and uses its notoriety to sell it.

The concept – squirreled away from a handful of other films – finds twelve strangers waking up in a field not knowing why they are there. Within minutes, they discover they are part of a hunt where they are the prey and the predators are unknown.

As the unwilling participants get picked off one by one, we slowly bring our focus to a woman named Crystal (Betty Gilpin), who seems to be a bit more informed and scrappy than the others. As more and more people die, she reluctantly joins with the remaining few to figure out who is behind this and how they can survive.

The conceit here is that the predators in the film are extreme liberals bent on getting rid of the redneck, backwards-thinking deplorables. The mastermind behind the Hunt is someone kept in the shadows (it's Hilary Swank, ya'll – something you'll know from the trailers) but how and why is the mystery of the story.

It's best not to give too much away, as there are a few nifty surprises. The problem, however, is the script by Nick Cuse ("The Leftovers") and Damon Lindelof ("Lost") – both smart, thoughtful writers – who have drafted a concept that doesn't totally land. When the film is over, you end up wondering exactly what the point was. There are a lot of moments throughout the film that make you question the validity of both sides (conservatives and liberals), and there's a point to be made, but it's not all that clear. There are little things that stand out, but ultimately you scratch your head wondering what exactly the duo was trying to say. Similarly, director Craig Zobel ("Compliance"), who is no stranger to plots that question good people's ability to do wrong, doesn't quite know what movie he is making. Is it a black comedy? A straight-on horror movie? A political satire?

It's sort of all three, but none of them really take the lead, so the movie meanders from tone to tone. Admittedly, the film is relentlessly entertaining and enjoyable to watch, but it needed a more solid viewpoint to really nail it and become an event film.

This could have been the perfect movie for the time we are in, as the primaries have just left us wondering what's next. But "The Hunt" doesn't hit the bullseye. It sort of nicks the idea and splatters it in different directions hoping someone knows how to put it back together into a coherent whole.

I enjoyed going on the hunt, it just didn't offer enough sustenance to justify the kill.