More then a decade ago, while coming out of a coma following brain surgery necessitated by a sever car accident, I made wild claims of being married to two different actresses. This has all become a bit of a recurring joke amongst my family and inner circle, so when I first heard of the movie 'The Hunt' I knew I had to see it. You see this is the film in which my second wife Hillary Swank is responsible for the death of my first wife Emma Roberts.
The movie is better known for having it's release delayed following a mass shooting in Texas. 'The Hunt' is a variation on 'The Most Dangerous Game', it's about humans hunting humans for sport, only here it is given a decidedly political angle. Though all the details are not reveled until towards the end of the film, Hillary Swank is one of a group of 'liberal, elite, professionals' whose careers were destroyed or damaged by a joke group texting chain about hunting and killing conservatives for fun. Since these charges are taken seriously by some online, this small group decides they might as well do it for real.
A dozen conservatives are abducted from across the country, rendered unconscious, and transported to the Balkans to be hunted. Locals officials are paid off and consultants hired to aid in the operation. The victims are selected based on inflammatory things they said online about 'Manorgate', which is the popular shorthand for the liberal's hunting conservative's scandal /conspiracy theory.
Our nefarious elites made one big mistake here, they messed up and abducted someone with the same name as one of their intended targets. Betty Gilpin plays Mississippi native Crystal Creasey, and she is a sharp and resourceful army veteran, an excellent shot, and she will make them pay. Gilpin (and to a lesser extent Swank) make the movie, it's a fun performance in a bad film.
Distributed by Universal but made by Blumhouse Productions, a company that specializes in making a great quantity of horror movies, generally of dubious quality. Despite looking cheap this one still clearly had more recourses thrown at it then the average Blumhouse film, including three well known female stars. Of course Emma Roberts is only in the first 5 or so minutes of the thing, she is credited under the character name of "Yoga Pants" and utters the line "That almost hit me" just before being hit by a bullet and killed.
The movies a bit of mess and feels like it needed to run through a few more drafts before putting screenplay to film. The transgressive quality of the film, the political subtext, is hardly subtext and played clumsy and heavy handedly. This is just a shoot'em up with some light pretense. The best thing to come out of the film is the idea of Gilpin as action hero, that needs to be given another more polished go. Also if I'm ever in a coma again Gilpin would be welcome as wife number three. *1/2
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