The Hunt<\/em> is a straight-up exploitation movie. For all the online hemming and hawing on both ends of the political spectrum about the people it might upset, viewers might be surprised to learn just how unsparing Craig Zobel\u2019s movie (written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof) is of both the left and the right. Everyone\u2019s the butt of the joke. Everyone is both the perpetrator and recipient of some good old fashioned movie violence. As fun as that is, however, this attempt to adapt The Most Dangerous Game<\/em> makes some serious miscalculations about whether it\u2019s the right time for this kind of movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its original release last September was canceled in the wake of heated discourse and tragic national events. When it was rescheduled for March, Universal and Blumhouse released an altered trailer, intended to provide some context and calm potential viewers down a bit. The Hunt <\/em>is still basically as originally advertised: a group of wealthy leftist elites capture a dozen blue collar working-class folks whom they\u2019ve targeted, for various forms of general jerkdom or perceived slander. The captives are released into the wilds of Croatia and systematically hunted down by their captors. Of the group, Crystal (Betty Gilpin) quickly emerges as the most capable, fighting her way toward the leader of the rich hunters (Hilary Swank) to exact revenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s start with the good: The Hunt\u2019s<\/em> action is satisfying, icky fun, punctuated with a sharp sense of humor that announces itself almost from the jump. Cuse and Lindelof\u2019s script introduces characters and arcs that you\u2019re certain will last the whole film, only to have them abruptly and hilariously cut off. The various entrapment scenarios the rich folks set up to capture their human prey are elaborately staged, and a good balance of revealing and disorienting. Gilpin also makes a great action heroine, capable and proactive but still relatable, a character who\u2019s easy to root for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hallmarks of a satisfying exploitation movie are all there. If you can remove yourself enough from the divided nature of public discourse (and if you are, congratulations on achieving the impossible), The Hunt<\/em> is a trashy good time. The problem is, most people occupy a place on the spectrum between liberal and conservative. While The Hunt<\/em> is mostly interested in cathartically destroying people on the most obnoxiously extreme edges, it\u2019s such an equal opportunity offender that no matter where you sit, something is bound to rub you the wrong way.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also the very justifiable question about whether, in a public climate already defined by rage and violence (both implied and enacted), it\u2019s really a good idea to present a situation where folks on the fringes are committing intense, targeted violence against each other. One might expect a little more depth or nuance from someone like Lindelof, who tackled subjects of cultural violence and injustice in Watchmen<\/em> to great effect. Zobel is also a pretty thoughtful filmmaker; his Compliance<\/em> and Z for Zachariah<\/em> (not to mention his work directing Lindelof\u2019s The Leftovers<\/em> for HBO) play with interpersonal relationships, paranoia and assumed expectations. Neither of them bring that kind of consideration to this project, which is both surprising and disappointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, the controversy surrounding The Hunt<\/em> probably gave it more publicity and attention than it really deserves. It\u2019s not trying to be anything more than an action-packed diversion with some cool effects and badass performances, which it achieves handily. Its vibe of \u201cshould we be doing this?\u201d is totally in keeping with its genre relatives. It\u2019s just that, given the timing, this one feels a little extra tasteless and inconsiderate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Hunt” is in theaters tonight.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Exploitation movies are quick, dirty, gory fun. They\u2019re also usually in questionable taste, which is part of their lowbrow entertainment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":577,"featured_media":13630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340,1381],"tags":[1098,162],"class_list":["post-13628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies","tag-movie-review","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/577"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22884,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13628\/revisions\/22884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/hunt2-Patti-PerretUniversal-Pictures.jpg\")
C+<\/h1>\n\n\n\n