The myriad references to George Orwell's Animal Farm sprinkled visually and throughout the dialogue in "The Hunt" are no mere reach for intellectual cred in Craig Zobel's latest Feature Guaranteed to Offend *Someone*.
Not that he cares, and you shouldn't either. His 2012 outing "Compliance" was one of those films that was extremely difficult to like, slightly sadistic, but containing such a compelling set-up, it was tough to turn off. Very similar to The Hunt in many respects.
There are two immediate reasons to see this movie: first, the fact that it gamely parodies both Red and Blue (idiotic labels in themselves) sensibilities and ideas, not really the people associated with those ideas. Very few people hold party-line views on everything.
That's crucial (and quite ingenious, really). This is why you have scant to almost no background on most of the characters in The Hunt... they're not really set up as blood and guts people (they explode like clay pigeons), and therein lies the vehicle for it's "message". Oh yeah, it's got one of *those* --- all-caps, bolded and blazing --- so if you're thinking of an elegant satire in the vein of The Shooting Party, it's not happening here. The Hunt is closer to a mix of "Die Hard" and "Hostel".
The second reason to see this film is Betty Gilpin's break-out performance as the lead beast-of-prey, whose droll-delivery and manic facial expressions (she sometimes plays her role like an over-amped cartoon character, which given the content and context of The Hunt, is appropriate). Gilpin is the closest we get in The Hunt to a 3D human... the film would be nothing but an wooden totem without her energy and muted effusiveness. It's really a great example of how to create a smart character. She plays it so close to the vest that you get the illusion she's on the same faceless, moral-less par as the rest of the cast. And many of the lines writers Cuse and Lindelof give her are hilarious to say the least.
When you step back from The Hunt and think about it, hopefully you'll realize that there really are no liberals or conservatives.... there are only people with and without power and money. And the steps the Haves will take (and have taken) are not overstated here, even though the barrage of violence is (with little to no physical consequences except when convenient). The pettiness and recklessness of upper crust vindictiveness is sadly accurate, and that goes back to "Compliance", which had no clear winner or loser.
That stalemate doesn't hold in "The Hunt" which provides a much more satisfying ending, but that overwrought message is, like most cliches, true. "Power corrupts... and absolute power...."
Well, you know the rest.
Not that he cares, and you shouldn't either. His 2012 outing "Compliance" was one of those films that was extremely difficult to like, slightly sadistic, but containing such a compelling set-up, it was tough to turn off. Very similar to The Hunt in many respects.
There are two immediate reasons to see this movie: first, the fact that it gamely parodies both Red and Blue (idiotic labels in themselves) sensibilities and ideas, not really the people associated with those ideas. Very few people hold party-line views on everything.
That's crucial (and quite ingenious, really). This is why you have scant to almost no background on most of the characters in The Hunt... they're not really set up as blood and guts people (they explode like clay pigeons), and therein lies the vehicle for it's "message". Oh yeah, it's got one of *those* --- all-caps, bolded and blazing --- so if you're thinking of an elegant satire in the vein of The Shooting Party, it's not happening here. The Hunt is closer to a mix of "Die Hard" and "Hostel".
The second reason to see this film is Betty Gilpin's break-out performance as the lead beast-of-prey, whose droll-delivery and manic facial expressions (she sometimes plays her role like an over-amped cartoon character, which given the content and context of The Hunt, is appropriate). Gilpin is the closest we get in The Hunt to a 3D human... the film would be nothing but an wooden totem without her energy and muted effusiveness. It's really a great example of how to create a smart character. She plays it so close to the vest that you get the illusion she's on the same faceless, moral-less par as the rest of the cast. And many of the lines writers Cuse and Lindelof give her are hilarious to say the least.
When you step back from The Hunt and think about it, hopefully you'll realize that there really are no liberals or conservatives.... there are only people with and without power and money. And the steps the Haves will take (and have taken) are not overstated here, even though the barrage of violence is (with little to no physical consequences except when convenient). The pettiness and recklessness of upper crust vindictiveness is sadly accurate, and that goes back to "Compliance", which had no clear winner or loser.
That stalemate doesn't hold in "The Hunt" which provides a much more satisfying ending, but that overwrought message is, like most cliches, true. "Power corrupts... and absolute power...."
Well, you know the rest.