The Hunt is a social satire that pits liberal elites against a handful of Trump loving, right-wingers. The film, which was delayed last September after one of ‘Merica’s many mass shootings, is a clever and amusing story that’ll have you questioning your allegiances no matter what side of the aisle you’re on.
Directed by Craig Zobel (from a screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse), it opens with twelve strangers (including Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Ike Barinholtz and Ethan Suplee) waking up in a field in the middle of nowhere. They’re bound and gagged. No one knows one another and they’re frightened, as you can imagine. They quickly help each other remove the shackles and slowly walk up to a big boarded-up box that contains every kind of weapon you can imagine. One by one they grab something when all of a sudden, shots start ringing out. It’s an exciting opening and from the way the film was cast it’ll definitely throw you for a loop. Some characters, name actors that most everyone will recognize, bite it pretty quickly.
It turns out that every year a group of ultra left-wing liberals (a smarmy Glenn Howerton and the always fantastic Amy Madigan among others) get together to find these unfortunate souls. They’ve been chosen because they’ve proudly spewed their hate-filled, right wing nonsense on the internet for all to see. And these lefties want them to have their comeuppance.
The liberal elites have all their ducks… humans… all in a row and are doing a damn good job of picking everyone off one by one. But one of the huntees, Crystal (a terrific Betty Gilpin) is not who she seems. She’s smarter, faster and deadlier than she lets on and when she finally confronts the mastermind behind this whole ordeal (a wonderful Hilary Swank, in full on “I’m better than you” mode), it’s as fun a fight scene as you’ll see this year.
