User Reviews

The Wild Hunt has some great things going for it: an interesting and straightforward premise (guy goes into LARPing event to "rescus" his estranged girlfriend carrying emotional and family baggage along the way) some gorgeous looking locations, great production values for this level of budget…but ultimately it's let down by irritating characters and a weak third act.

The film doesn't setup the relationship between the Erik and Lyn. I appreciated the melancholy tone it sets, but without any background there's no real investment in Erik's quest. Erik himself doesn't go through any arc, he begrudgingly enters the LARP world complaining the whole time. When at last it looks like he's coming around, he goes right back to being a sullen jerk to everyone. The character of Lyn seems to shift into whatever mode the scene calls for: at once she's emotionally confused, then she's ready to give things a go with Erik but goes right in to chastising him. If the film were trying to say something about the value in letting things go, or that Erik's desperate attempt to save his relationship is more of a fantasy than the LARP, I'd get it. Not every film needs a happy ending, but this one falls short.

Erik succeeds in rescuing Lyn about halfway through the film, and the climax of the film simply has her getting kidnapped again (albeit, in a more sinister fashion) with Erik in pursuit again. I wish they had thought of something different instead of just repeating an earlier plot point. To me, this would be like having Star Wars: A New Hope climax with Luke and Han having to rescue Leia, AGAIN. While I can dig a tragic ending, the film wraps up abruptly with a lot of characters meeting graphic and tragic ends, but none of it seems to relate to their journey along the way. The first 2/3rds of the film are enjoyable, but if you expect the characters to grow or the story to take you in different places, you'll find the last 1/3rd disappointing.

I have to say, as an all around lover of everything nerdy, I had high hopes for this movie. I really did. I am quite sad to say it failed on almost all points. For one, the main characters were one dimensional and shallow. Lyn went from trying to seduce someone, to running away from Erich, to outright fear for her life, then back to enjoyment in the time span of what couldn't have been more than a few hours. Doesn't make sense to me at all, maybe i'm just missing something. For two, the plot itself was poorly created with almost zero development, surprise or even a story line that made sense. Everything was expected. It was not a "Shakespearean Tragedy" as described, as at no point in the film did the protagonist ever move into the accepting fate portion of said writing style.

However, there were quite a few redeeming moments, especially the well placed comedic relief. The SCA chapter (Society for Creative Anachronism and NOT LARP) that they found for a lot of this footage was quite good, especially the actual site, weapons, costumes, even some of the game events that just made up the background. I applaud that.

However, my third and final point, as a LARP-er (Live Action Role Player), I burst into tears during the last 25 minutes of this movie and almost turned it off. It is very difficult for a movie to get to me, and I understand that this is fictional, but I have so many issues with this movie it's horrifying and would take up pages. As if we geeks didn't have it hard enough, sure go ahead and portray a completely harmless sport that has spent years and years trying to gain a favorable reputation and toss it out the window. Thanks.

The problem with current cinema in a nutshell: it is considered cool and edgy for movie characters to be constantly irritated, annoyed, offensive and swearing. The problem with this movie in particular: people who engage in live role-playing do so because it's fun. They don't go around constantly using f-words and c-words and taking things too seriously and not seriously enough at the same time, as shown in this movie (I am not a live role-player, but I have friends who are). "Artistic license" it may be, but that doesn't stop it from also being a betrayal of what live role-playing is really like. Yes, a betrayal: some audiences, not knowing how distant this portrayal of it is from the real thing, will be scared away from live role-playing by this movie. It's all but saying that role-playing will lead to uncontrollable violence - a repetition of ignorant, conservative, long out-of-date fears about young people's love for comics, video games and role-playing.

I realize the story is trying to take things to a different level; speculating about minor conflicts getting out of hand and turning into deadly serious major ones, and that's fine. There are many good ideas here and very nice directing, but in my view it should have been handled very differently. It just never feels like something that could happen, or like a good representation of live role-playing. Many plot developments seem contrived (like Lyn suddenly getting sick, and the car that won't start), and the way most of the characters hate each other is completely contrary to real live role-playing situations, even though the latter certainly has its share of intrigues and internal politics. But in this movie the characters (esp. Shaman Murtagh) are just not believable. They range from too angry and obnoxious to nastily self-ridiculing. The story itself goes into such extremes that we are asked to suspend our disbelief beyond any bounds of credibility. I wonder which audience this is made for. Is it an attempt to thematize the danger of fantasy being confused with reality? Or is it just an excuse to escalate the pretend-violence into real violence? I, for one, don't think it works.

Of course, I'm judging this from how similar it is to real live role-playing. Maybe the writer and director didn't care about that, but wanted to do something different. All right. But people involved in live role-playing are the ones who will mainly and mostly want to see this movie, and therefore one might argue that it ought to be truer to their experience. If the writer and director achieved what they set out to do, good for them. For me, however, this was a disappointment and in bad taste. It should either have been more tasteful (some may not be aware of it, but great drama *is* possible without copious profanity, as any student of literature will know) or much more like a comedy. After all, live role-playing is about fun. This movie undermines and takes away that fun. Maybe it would be an interesting and innovative movie if there already existed twenty movies done in the proper spirit, but since there doesn't, this is not what people who understand live role-playing is looking for.

For those like me who may have been disappointed with this movie, I recommend watching All's Faire In Love instead. A similar idea, but done as a comedy, and a very effectively entertaining one.

5 out of 10.

I enjoyed playing AD&D when I was in elementary and middle school as a way of escaping and playing fantasy. And so this movie is a little too much. I'm pretty sure what it's trying to say for folk to get back into reality and the world around them despite all it's depressing elements, but although it has some comedy and originality, the movie is inane at it's core. It carries a lot of the same patterns and themes as the German movie "Das Experiment", but it is not as defined and goes over-the-top with some of it's characters within characters. The older brother even by the end of the movie has not learned to come back to reality. Maybe this movie's for those who do role-playing, but for those have never done it, it will have little meaning and be a charade worse than a bad Shakespeare festival.

As most Canadian film is recognized as either unduly reflective and sombre or irreverently goofy, it comes as a breath of fresh air to find an offering of local cinema which achieves a tone dabbling in both without overdosing on either. In fact, director Alexandre Franchi's film delights in misleading its audience, opening with a terse, exhilarating Nordic battle only to have it interrupted by a participant whining "Okay, are we done now?", thus exposing the film to be set in the world of LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) - fantasy nerds dressing up in Medieval attire and enacting staged combat.

But Franchi's trickery does not stop there, leading with comedic sequences detailing hapless but charming Erik (Ricky Mabe)'s bemused quest to reclaim his fled girlfriend (Kaniehtio Horn, both wryly funny and tragically sombre) from the ranks of the costumed performers, led by Erik's gregarious brother Bjorn (hilarious, show stealing Mark Antony Krupa), only to undercut the seeming frivolity with continual flashes to mystical divine rites and an eerie continuous Norse musical drone, suggesting all is far from fine and dandy.

Naturally, things take a turn for the worse in a plot twist reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, but the real surprise is how deeply chilling the film becomes and how quickly, exploring the feral violence allegedly at the core of each person and the worrisome disconnect between fantasy and reality in an isolated microcosm of chaos. Nonetheless, Franchi's film remains ultimately just as fun a watch as an intense, thought- provoking one, neatly intertwining the two excesses of his national cinema into one highly compelling blend.

-8/10

The Wild Hunt has made an excellent show of how humans can quickly turn something fun and enjoyable into a tragic tale. All too often we see similar events transpire within our own society.

This film has captured the very essence of someone struggling with their own life, and breaks out of their comfort zone to go after that which is most desired, only for tragedy to befall them.

The wild hunt is slow to start, but once it gets going it hits like a train. Very much worth the watch.