Also rented the other Covid-19 theatrical-to-streaming-early film that I hadn’t yet seen The Hunt. This is the flick that was scheduled for release last year but, after a couple shootings and conservative outrage over the premise (including the president), got delayed. It’s another in the long line of “Most Dangerous Game” movies where humans hunt other humans for sport. This time, it’s liberal elites hunting poor conservatives… as if every other movie in this genre doesn’t basically have that premise flipped.
But there’s a lot of hubub over a movie that doesn’t really earn it. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just that it’s not really about what the plot is about. This is a satire pointed directly at liberal and conservative extremists who would rather shout at each than talk. Nobody in the movie comes out smelling like roses… there’s enough satire to lay at everyone’s feet and that’s what was missing in the jump-to-attack original accusations. The movie isn’t serious.
So the movie is about a a bunch of people who wake up in a field with a weapons crate nearby. As soon as they arm themselves, they start taking fire. It’s quickly clear they are being hunted, and it’s probably all part of that internet conspiracy theory called ManorGate (where rich coastal elites hunt “deplorables”).
Within a few seconds of the movie starting, you’ll quickly see this is a movie more interested in being gory over-the-top B movie shlock. They could have removed the satire and had a perfectly normal (if sadistic) over-the-top action flick. To its credit, it does that gory action well and with an impressive amount of turn-about surprises as far as who lives and who dies. The cast is full of semi-recognizable “I know that guy” actors who you think might be the star of the show. Sometimes… but not always. The violence is often a little on the side of cartoony or campy… it’s not taking itself too seriously.
But the audience might be taking it seriously if they don’t realize the dialog is intended to be satire. If someone brings in enough of their own far left or right baggage, they’ll no doubt be nodding along in agreement. Of course this is what might happen when those X do Y!! But hopefully they’ll be self-aware enough to see through the shtick and not take it so seriously. Or maybe only centrists need apply.
I’m not saying this is a successful movie though. Certainly if you have a natural disinclination for the violence, the movie will instantly turn you off. But the action scenes are otherwise decent and watchable and sometimes the satire can be amusing. Not always… but sometimes. And there’s some nice surprises. But my main take-away when it was done was… ok… so what was that really all about. I mean, I get that it’s a satire taking aim at Twitter outrage, liberal outrage, and conservative outrage… but I’m not sure it had anything else to say about it. It’s like a great big neon sign pointing at a problem but without any original thoughts. In other words, the movie just isn’t as smart or as well thought-through as it thinks it is.
So, yeah, as a pure over-the-top action flick, this isn’t a bad movie. It’s got some fun set pieces and a wanton sense of blood and gore if that’s your thing. If you think you might get upright over the politics and not go with it and if you don’t care if the preaching has a point, you might dig it. I’m somewhere right in the middle though, wishing it had more to say and wishing it had just been a hair better as pure B movie madness.
Score: 73