‘The Hunted’ misses the mark in reality
John Haugh of Glendale is a music researcher.
Movies like “The Hunted” don’t come along that often. That would
be a good thing.
This film actually achieves the feat of ripping off “Rambo” and
“The Fugitive,” yet it contains not one realistic scene.
The movie stars Tommy Lee Jones as a tracker who must hunt down a
renegade soldier whom he trained. Benicio Del Toro plays the
knife-wielding killer.
The film is just one, long, uninteresting chase scene after
another. The characters only stop running long enough to engage in
grisly knife fights. Jones’ character has an aversion to guns, which
keeps him from shooting Del Toro the first time he catches him and
mercifully ending the movie.
Director William Friedkin brings no life out of a script with more
holes than Swiss cheese. Del Toro sleepwalks through his role, while
Jones looks out of shape and a little like Kenny Rogers.
The movie earns its R rating with several gory scenes that are
uncomfortable to watch. The rest of the film is so bad, it’s actually
unintentionally funny.
On my movie report card, “The Hunted” gets an F.
“The Hunted” is rated R for strong bloody violence and language.
* If you would like to become a Reel Critic and see a movie on
the newspaper’s tab, call entertainment editor Joyce Rudolph at
637-3241.