The Hunt (2020) Dir: Craig Zobel
- Ridley Coote
- Aug 14
- 2 min read
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It's safe to say my expectations for this Craig Zobel directed action thriller were fairly low coming into it. The film didn't particularly look or sound like anything that would impress me too much, and the rather wobbly critical reception seemed to back-up my concerns. Regardless, I feel like Blumhouse at least makes entertainingly bad film films when they get it wrong, so the film had that going for it.
Visually, this was pretty standard stuff for an action thriller of this nature, although I found a lot of the practical effects pretty fun. I will die on the hill that practical effects look better than CGI. I will say, however, some of the action sequences were a little messy. The last main action sequence, while entertaining, looked pretty silly and inauthentic.
The best way to describe the story was as a crude mix of 'The Hunger Games', 'Ready Or Not', and 'The Purge: Anarchy', and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was bizarre - quite possibly the most un-woke woke film I've ever seen - it was unexpectedly hilarious. The story was fairly basic, the vast majority of characters were shallow, but man, the comedy really got me. I was laughing my head off, which I really did not expect to be doing. From a critical standpoint, it's not amazing, but from a pure entertainment one, it was really fun.
Betty Gilpin was a little odd in her leading role, but I kind of liked it. Her dry delivery of comedy was genuinely great at times, and her character's mannerisms really helped to solidify her persona. Much like the rest of the film, I wasn't necessarily expecting to like her acting as much as I did - she was a very pleasant surprise, in that sense.
The supporting cast was full of random names and unexpectedly entertaining performances, with the best of them being provided by Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee, and Ike Barinholtz. Meanwhile, the likes of Teri Wyble, Always Sunny's Glenn Howerton, and even Emma Roberts, which was very random, also provided a degree of entertainment amongst the chaos.
Overall, I think this would have to go on a list of the most surprising viewing experiences for me. I really thought that this would be a very poor, or, at best, mediocre, film. I won't say it was a five star classic or anything, but I will say that it was absurdly fun. I genuinely had a ridiculously good time watching it. It isn't an all-timer, and it won't necessarily work for everyone, but from a personal standpoint, I really enjoyed it.
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