The Hunter (2011)

By Mr. Tropnevad

Summary

A mercenary is sent to Tasmania to track down the last Tasmanian tiger and obtain its genetic material.



What I Expected

I was unaware of this movie prior to SXSW. I read and heard several good reviews for it and when I noticed that it was available on the Zune marketplace on XBOX Live I figured I would give it a try. When I watched this it was not in theaters, but I do believe it has a limited release as of today.

The Bad

This movie is slow moving at times and this could cause problems for some people. It has more drama elements than action so don’t go into this thinking it is an action movie even though it was marketed to be one. I never found myself bored during slow times. The problem I had was that sometimes it just took too long to get to the point of what was going on. For instance I was getting tired of seeing him walk around in the wilderness and return to town, but after I realized why he was doing this it no longer bothered me.

The Good

In the beginning of the movie I questioned Martin David (Williem Dafoe) and his cleanliness. He wanted to take a bath and make sure that he was clean. When he goes to the wilderness he shows that he can survive in the wild. He knows how to live off the land. He knew how to build a fire, kill his food and use traps to catch animals in order to lure his prey to him. I was surprised by this because of how clean he had to be at times. There is a scene where he is in a bathtub and it might shock some people due to what happens.

When Martin arrives to this small town to hunt for the Tasmanian tiger he is supposed to stay at a house where another man was hunting the tiger, too. The only problem is that his wife is there and she is always drugged up and her kids are always hanging around. To make matters worse Jack Mindy (Sam Neil) is always hanging around trying to show Martin that he is the alpha male and that he will take care of this woman and her kids. The way this draws out between Martin and Jack is interesting. At times I was waiting to see who’s ego was going to win and who would kill who.

To make matters worse for Martin when he goes into town the locals want to beat the crap out of him, because he does not belong there. Since Martin is intelligent he shakes his head and walks away. He is a bad ass and he knows he shouldn’t be fighting with the locals, because he has a job to do. Not to mention it is a town full of rednecks so if you make one angry you’re going to make them all angry. When he does attack one of them though they know he is not to be messed with and after this tensions escalate.

If you have never seen an art film this is one. The director lingers around the scenery in the wilderness and he should be doing this. Most people have never seen this type of environment before and to think this is a place that is in someone’s backyard is truly amazing.

Near the end of the film Martin begins to question who he is and what his job really is. As a mercenary he knows he is a killer for hire and he can’t make pleasure a priority over his job. We soon learn and so does he that he wants more than to be the tough guy. His life is missing something and sometimes walking through the woods can bring your thoughts together and answer your questions. His development into this is interesting to watch and when the tension starts to escalate for him and those around him you begin to question if he is going to make his kill or even make it out alive.

I think Dafoe missed his calling as an action star. If that man yelled at me like he does to the people in this movie I would be like yes sir anything you say. This is a side to him you normally don’t see. He isn’t an action hero by American standards due to how he looks. He is a manly man though in this and he does a great job at it.

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this movie and wasn’t expecting it to be a drama. It was a nice change of pace and it was good to see Dafoe as a different type of actor. It is a slow film so this isn’t for everyone. I myself would give it a full price if it is still in the theaters, but for most people I would say pay a matinee price. When it comes to blu-ray I don’t recommend buying it. No, it isn’t bad you just have to realize what type of movie this is. This is definitely a movie you should see though. When it does come out to blu-ray at least rent it.

Overall- Matinee in theaters and Rent