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Old December 28th, 2020 #1
steven clark
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,277
Default The Hunt

If there is a previous post on this, my apologies, but I only saw this film a couple of weeks ago, seeing it in the DVD box at Dollar Store. The film really had a terrible release, and the reaction was pretty savage.

I liked it. The movie's plot is well-known: a bunch or rich, corporate types kidnap some American people...'deplorable'...rednecks...and hunt them down.

This is a seminal movie, people hunting people. The Most Dangerous Game, a 1931 movie, was the original, much like the group of soldiers, explorers, etc., who get picked off by the enemy (as in Alien), was first done in The Lost Patrol (1935). After a nasty scene on an airliner, the action is fast and never stops. The 'deplorables' are dumped into a field, offered weapons, and as they grab them, are picked off and slaughtered. They also begin gagged, needing a key to unlock them...reminding me of the masks now forced upon us...and little is known of these people. One is a 'conservative' radio D.J., others are a random collection of people from flyover country.
one woman, Crystal (Betty Gilpin), is a little tougher, wary, and keeps away from them.
The slaughter is proceeded by a pig in clothes oinking around the people.
The action is like a good B movie, with gore, quick camera shots, and good spacing. At a country store, the surviving deplorables try to get the upper hand, but get wiped out. Except Crystal, who turns the tables, and is a tough nut to crack.
The hunters are in an affluent bunker, and it's funny to hear their P.C. patter. They're never caricatures, but probably what readers of the New Yorker or the cast of Seinfeld would be like if they decided to start wiping us out.
Krystal, however, gets the drop on them and does a Josey Wales. It also turns out she is a Gulf War vet with a kickass Mississippi accent.
Crystal finds her way to the leader, Athena (Hilary Swank), who only makes a full appearance in the last half-hour. Here, it gets talky as both exchange their worldviews while kicking, punching, and slashing each other, amidst a yuppie repast of good wine and exotic grilled cheese.

Athena lets it be known, in her own way, she was a victim of PC and the hunt is her way of getting back on the deplorables who got her blacklisted.
The fight is savage but also witty and ironic. It turns out Crystal is there because she was mistaken for another Crystal, and gets her revenge.
It's a funny movie in many ways. like I said, a B movie style that expresses political anger. A true movie of the Trump era. Also a lot of 1984 in the dialogue and scenes. You'll like it a lot if you've read the book.

To me, it also a satiric view of civil war. The yuppies who do the killing are wusses, but they have an ex-military type to train them, and they do pretty good until they meet Crystal. In the battle of amateurs vs. amateurs, we see what it might be like if Antifa and the Proud Boys went at each other...Antifa has weapons and organization and might win, while the Proud Boys...or, God help us, some flabby cuckservatives... and their kind have anger but no plan. Then, when the war really gets rolling, as it is with all wars, the amateur soldiers fade and the real killers take over; as in Athena and Crystal.

It's a convention of recent cinema that women have to be the real fighters and killers. But you wonder what our civil war would be like when the bullshit ends and scores begin to be settled. Something like Ride with the Devil.
I liked this movie better than I thought I would, and again, it really has some laughs and quick moving action. Fun to watch, and don't forget the pig.
 
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