The Hunted Review
by John Ulmer (johnulmer2003 AT msn DOT com)September 9th, 2003
THE HUNTED
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER
I had a really good dream last night. It was about this madman killer who is on the run, and only one professional, ex-cop knows the secrets of how to catch the killer. We find out that the killer and professional have some sort of connection between each other, which only thickens the tension. The pro chases the killer much to the chagrin of the police department led by an attractive woman much too young for her job position. The killer and professional confront each other many times during the course of my dream, but the killer always escapes, even from about 30 SWAT teams with machine guns. Then he and the ex-cop duke it out at the end.
I think I should turn this into the movie. Hmm, what should I call it? How about "The Fugitive"? Already used? No problemo, we'll just call it "The Hunted." Get a really good, Oscar-winning director (William Friedkin), an Oscar-winning actor who has burned his fugitive-catching characters into the ground (Tommy Lee Jones), and another Oscar-winning actor who has dull charisma and can play a good bad guy (Benicio Del Toro). Combine them together, get a half-baked script, slap it together, and pass it off as an "original" film.
Alas, here is "The Hunted," a film that starts off quite competent and quite interesting, but then slips into mediocrity and cliches in the second half. I imagine that the filmmakers thought that by splashing Tommy Lee Jones' face on all the posters and advertising the plot so heavily, they could dupe audiences into thinking that this was the third "Fugitive" film. It might as well be. It's just as bad as the second "Fugitive" film if not worse.
I really liked the beginning setup. We are shown deer hunters in Canada, stalked by a creepy killer with a razor-sharp knife. After killing both men, a "tracker" who can track down people (Tommy Lee Jones) is sent to find the killer. He does. We find out that the killer is Aaron (Benicio Del Toro), an assassin for the government who has been mentally scarred by images of violence in Kosovo. Jones trained Del Toro a few years back, before he retired from "the game" (why do retired people always call their old job "the game"?).
One thing leads to another, and soon Aaron has escaped from confinement, on the run once again. Only this time, he's not innocent like Harrison Ford was - he's guilty - and perhaps that is part of why this movie stinks.
Sure, "The Hunted" isn't technically a sequel to anything, though the similarities to "First Blood" and "The Fugitive" are strikingly suspicious. The beginning is great. It's tense, it is actually engaging and fun to watch. But once Benicio Del Toro's character is caught (about, say, fifteen minutes in), all the fun dissipates and the film switches courses from "The Hunted" to "The Hunters." Essentially the movie strays from its survivalist-killer-stalked-by-survivalist-trainer to a two-really-adept-guys-chasing-each-other film. I really enjoyed the idea of a mad killer hiding out in the wilderness, choosing his prey, with another man just like him chasing the killer down. But to resort to images of a tired Tommy Lee Jones reenacting a role that boosted his critical acclaim is just plain sad.
After the film moved into urban areas it lost my interest. There was a spark of ingenuity, or at least interest, in the idea of a madman killer out there in the woods, picking off his prey one-by-one (sorta an update of "The Predator" with humans instead of an alien). But what's the fun in seeing an adept killer in the middle of an urban jungle? It's been done too many times. Let's just say that "The Fugitive" and "Falling Down" this is not.
As for the acting in this film, well, Tommy Lee Jones isn't getting any younger, and either is the plot, for that matter. Tommy looks like he's about to faint from fatigue. Benicio Del Toro looks like he is in desperate need of some drugs, a tranquilizer to calm him down (just look at how quirky his movements are throughout the film), and a six-pack of acting magic - pronto. Connie Nielsen is starting to get on my nerves. The whole Cold Hard Witch routine is getting old. So are these chase films.
"The Fugitive" was interesting. "U.S. Marshalls" was repetitive. "The Hunted" isn't playing with a full deck of cards. It uses excessive shots of gory violence and gallons of blood in hopes of making its audience take it seriously as opposed to treating it like another softy R-rated chase movie. It also hopes its audience will confuse it for "The Fugitive 3." The only thing I really wondered after seeing this film: Is that a good thing anymore?
Copyright, 2003, John Ulmer -
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