The Hunt

Written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof, The Hunt follows 12 strangers as they find themselves forced to fend for their lives after they’re abducted and pursued by gun-toting assailants – with the bulk of the narrative detailing Crystal Creasey’s (Betty Gilpin) ongoing efforts at escaping her perilous predicament. Filmmaker Craig Zobel delivers an exceedingly erratic piece of work that fares best in its briskly-paced and appreciatively violent first half, and it’s clear, certainly, that the entertaining atmosphere is heightened by familiar faces in small roles as early victims (including Emma Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, and Justin Hartley). It doesn’t hurt, either, that Gilpin turns in an impressively commanding turn as the mysterious Crystal, with the character slowly-but-surely morphing into a seriously compelling figure that ultimately does deserve a better movie. The Hunt’s passable vibe persists right up until it progresses into its uneven and aggressively less-than-subtle third act, as scripters Cuse and Lindelof push their message/agenda to an extent that eventually becomes intolerable (and it doesn’t help, certainly, that the final fight is nothing short of anticlimactic in its execution). The end result is what feels like a 40 minute Twilight Zone episode awkwardly stretched out to feature length, which is a shame, undoubtedly, given that Zobel has managed to pack the proceedings with a handful of compelling attributes.

** out of ****