Movie Review: The Hunt

Image courtesy Dean Weingarten

The Hunt is 1 hour and 29 minutes of satire. I was in a theater, so I contained  the laughing out loud to smirking, chuckles and the occasional knowing side glance at my companion.

This is a fun movie. If you wish to see a training film, this is not it. There are quite a few guns in the movie. If you wish to criticize their use, you will find plenty to criticize. I do not expect satire to be realistic.

If you want political commentary that eviscerates the Woke left and political insanity... there is plenty in this movie.

It takes stereotypes of the left and conservatives, and slings them about with enough subtlety to evade the King's censors, as Jonathan Swift did with Gulliver's Travels.

The Hunt seems to be a very unlucky movie. First, numbers of people on both ends of the political spectrum call for it to be withdrawn from circulation before anyone saw it.

Then, It is shown in theaters in the midst of the Coronavirus Wu Flu panic/crises, take your pick.  When I saw the film in Harkins Theaters in Yuma, Arizona on 16 March, I asked the young man at the counter how business was.

It was terrible. Admittedly, this was a matinee. It was on a Monday. There were four people in the theater which could have seated a couple hundred.

We did not need to worry about breathing someone else's air.

Do not approach this movie as if it is a documentary.

There is considerable truth in satire. It does not work if there isn't a kernel of truth in the story.

There is considerable truth in this movie, and it hits you over the head with it like a hammer. A fluffy pillow hammer with feathers that touches the funny bone.

One of the characteristics of humor is said to be, it is funny when somebody else gets hurt.

Many parts of the movie do not make any sense. Remember, it not a training film. The movie makes fun of currently politically correct society on many levels.

Was the movie being politically correct in showing women more competent than men? Or was that a satirical statement about political correctness in current culture?

Is the blood and gore a satirical comment on slasher flicks? Or a cynical way to boost the box office and a comment on slasher flicks?

Good satire makes it hard to distinguish.

To give full credit to the star of the film, Betty Gilpin, she does an excellent job as Crystal, a very competent woman.

If you can understand satire, see this movie. If you were born without the satire gene, don't bother.

We can use more films which are not politically correct, films you can laugh at. There are stereotypes in the movie even "woke" leftists can laugh at.

The movie may become a "cult" classic, like "Tremors". There are some similarities. 

It is a good time to see the movie. Theaters are likely to be almost empty. The risk will be very low.


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