I wanted to see The Hunt in theaters, but politics and a pandemic stood in the way. If I worked for any movie studio, I would advise against bowing to pressure in delaying an opening. If it is wrong, it is always wrong, and if it is right, it is always right. Either way, you financially proved that you believed in the project so strike when the iron is hot. The only caveat is if you learned something distasteful that you did not know at the beginning, then you did not sign a waiver so by all means, break the glass, call Christopher Plummer and apologize.
Presidon’t complained about The Hunt because the movie’s premise is that liberal elites hunt deplorables. Per usual in a stunning lifetime streak, he is loud and wrong. The movie is initially sympathetic to these alleged deplorables and rides the stereotype of politically correct, godless intellectuals really hard. If you believe that might is right, after the 2016 election, I realized that my side was clearly outgunned and outtrained. You don’t wake up one day ready to use physical force. It takes time, practice and a certain mentality to create a muscle memory and willingness to be comfortable with causing harm to others, even in self-defense, and be effective so the movie never made me believe that these people would cosign this action and go straight to murder without other indicators. Dehumanizing people is a process. The film flirts with the idea that as an inherent part of being a human being, anyone, even those who fall all over themselves with saying the right thing, can find themselves othering the opposition and becoming monsters, but it does not happen overnight or even over the course of a year. I liked the idea, but it needed a little work although the cast does effectively sell if you do not overthink it and take it at face value.
By placing the audience’s sympathies with the defenseless deplorables, it initially felt as if the movie was on their side. Come on, they have The Oath’s Ike Barinholtz, Adult World and Scream Queens’ Emma Roberts, and This Is Us’ Justin Hartley while most of the hunters are lesser known. You have to be a monster to not root for the underdog to inevitably turn the tables, and we are more likely to relate to the characters in the movie that do not know what is going on than to empathize with the bully murderers who do not think that it is enough to have every advantage, but have to punish people for not agreeing with them. I am now concerned that people really do not realize that being liberal crosses all socioeconomic boundaries. There are rich deplorables and considering how often they appear in trophy hunting photos, it feels as if the filmmakers are putting the thumb on the scale in their favor, but we already have The Purge. The whiff of sympathy to the other side was not enough to dissuade me from watching the film. It was enough to have the promise of violence, a final girl and even ham fisted political skewering.
As the most sympathetic deplorables are quickly dispatched, The Hunt shifts its sympathies again as the taciturn final girl socializes with her fellow abductees. She seems equally disgusted by her fellow abductees as her abductors. The movie is only ninety minutes long, and before we reach the first half hour, the movie becomes hers. I am unfamiliar with Betty Gilpin, but I loved her and would love to see this character again. I would settle for just seeing her in action or horror movies. Her take on the classic taciturn hero ready to handle her shit was brilliantly, deadpan hilarious. Once she takes center stage, anything that detracts from her delivering lines whether they are triumphantly terse one liners before killing hunters or long twisted monologues on familiar fables or kicking ass will make you anxious to return her to her rightful place. Just when a viewer may be ready to write her off as some psycho killer, she shows enough protective concern for others not as endowed with strategy, moves and skill to reveal that she is capable of being a human being, going under the radar and is a little horrified at how easy she can pick up her mantle as a killing machine and really enjoy it. She is not a tortured hero. She saw some things in her past and gave quite a show right back.
Gilpin’s take on The Hunt’s protagonist is exactly what I want from actors. She explores the entire range of human moments and knows when to be calm, truly savoring the quiet moments, bringing out the intimacy of one on one scenes or being an impressive army of one as she rapidly disposes of the opposition. Her facial expressions were hilarious. I loved that this character knew who she was, accepted it and worked with what she had instead of being angst filled. This movie on its own merits may not be good in the abstract, but her performance makes it worth watching it and makes me really sad that I missed seeing it on the big screen. I kind of want to rewatch all her scenes again. She may make it the kind of movie that is revered in the future as a cult hit. She makes the movie in the way that I hoped Samara Weaving would make Ready or Not.
If you watch a Blumhouse Productions movie and complain about the graphic violence, you are also the kind of person who says that you would enjoy Thanksgiving more if there was only less food. The violence and action scenes were delightful and kept The Hunt’s momentum on track even when it meandered a bit in the beginning and kept passing the empathy baton from deplorable victim to deplorable victim. Once Gilpin takes over, the action scenes feature some gorgeous fight choreography infused with humor. When she finally faces off against Athena, the goddess of the hunt, a reference which I appreciated, it lives up to the buildup. Hilary Swank showed that she retained her Million Dollar Baby training and made a great villain, whom I actually liked.
The Hunt made an intriguing narrative choice before the dynamic denouement, which I actually appreciated and retroactively helped add to the cohesiveness of the story. I liked the villain’s delivery, “I don’t recall a text thread I had last Tuesday.” Swank and Gilpin made great foils with their contrasting physicality, style and quality of their voice. They had great chemistry, and it was completely believable that a random woman could mentally and physically go toe to toe with the sinister mastermind. Their moments of brief accord were just as thrilling as their blows. While it seemed as if the filmmaker toyed with ending the movie slightly earlier than the way that it actually ended, it worked either way. Side note: it is not that the Animal Farm references did not work for me, it just has been so long since I read it that the references did not resonate.
The Hunt wants to comment on the zeitgeist of this particular political moment, but is more comfortable embracing its horror action roots and making fascinating killer women. I would definitely love to see it again. Too bad that it is unlikely that it will ever be in the theater. The rabbit always wins.