Hunters

When something tries hard to emulate something else, but doesn't quite make it, it enters an area of psychology referred to as the "uncanny valley"; for example, a mannequin that is almost real, but not quite. When a person encounters something that takes them into the uncanny valley, it sets off an anxiety and makes them uncomfortable. This is why we don't make dummies that look too human-like, they put shoppers off.

"Hunters" lives firmly inside the uncanny valley. Virtually all of the actors are Australian. It's filmed in one of the most Australian of cities, Melbourne, inside Melbourne buildings and houses. They really try their best to put on American accents but outside of the veterans they often fail -- sometimes quite comically. Australia is not North America. Escalators are reversed. Vehicles have the steering wheels on the wrong side. The architecture is distinctly un-American. The list goes on.

It's a recipe for a perfect storm of distractions, and when the show itself is quite borderline in terms of plot, acting and editing the last thing you need is to then shove viewers out of what meager frame you have by shouting at them that this is "fake". At the very least the lead actors ought to have been North American. Maybe they could have anchored the rest of it but with all Aussies it's all at sea.

I avoided Hunters for the 1st couple of episodes and then tried episode #3 and all I wanted was the back-story: who is Allison, how did she get here, what happened to her parents, who the hell is chasing her and why is she different from the difference, never mind the humans?.

So I started in on #2 and then to #1 and I was even more hooked. Hunters has a highly atmospheric, Dark City/Synchronicity look and feel. It is cinematically very dark to carry off the Predator thread. Hunters is well acted, good dialogue and not overly FXd.

I mentioned Predator, Aliens and Spock but it also resembles The Americans in its paranoia and the unease I feel while watching it. It definitely plays to the unease with 'the other' going on in US society, particularly with the trans-gendered issues of gender bending but more toward what will eventually happen when we are augmented by nanotechnology to the point of being 'aliens' in our own societies.

I think if you like The Aliens on E4 you will enjoy Hunters as well. I'm in.

--Thom

After watching the pilot for "Hunters", I was disappointed. Although it is not unusual for a show to start quickly, hoping to catch the interest of viewers from the start, that strategy is difficult to pull off, requiring clarity. The audience must know what is happening, even if it doesn't yet understand all the intentions of the characters. And viewers should be given a character (or two) they can identify with.

"Hunters" is a failure of style and story. The action is dark, full of shadows that obscure identities. This method can create mystery, but the viewer should at least know what the mystery is. When he is given little or no context, the first episode is only a collection of actions to be remembered, in hopes of later understanding.

The story seems implausible. There is a troubled FBI agent, Flynn (Nathan Phillips), who lives with a wife we barely see and a former partner's daughter who is also troubled. There is a shadow organization that tracks down undefined entities that belong to another shadow organization with unknown goals. For some reason, all of these entities converge, Flynn is told he now works for the first organization, and people start chasing each other.

Flynn receives no indoctrination or training. He is never read in regarding his new employer's objectives or its history. And neither are we.

Usually, good scripts don't have the characters explain everything that happens; they just show us. But some exposition through dialogue is necessary if a backstory is not provided through flashbacks.

Perhaps later episodes can clean up the mess that the pilot lays at viewers' feet. And maybe other viewers are willing to wait for the framework that is missing. Personally, I am not motivated to wait, particularly because none of the characters intrigue me.

I give it a 5 because it has potential BUT this is what's wrong with SciFi today. Maybe it's just the perception that some of the British or Australian directors,writers etc that audiences are stupid/ignorant of the real world or maybe they are themselves.

Here's what I mean, no one in this day and age over the age of 10 thinks a CRACK secret organization sends 3 guys into a bldg to search for dangerous aliens/monsters or bad guys.

OR if you do the guys are THE bad asses of the world. Not 3 guys who wander in , lose track of each other , disobey orders or carry radios that don't have earpieces and throat mikes so the baddies don't hear you or basically run around like idiots and get themselves killed.

Now I know some may say well that was just a device so we can set up that he loves her or she lost a loved one or whatever BUT! if you don't get the little things right then no matter how good you do the biggies you only be mediocre, hire a military consultant for Pete's sake.

And I will give this a few more looks but as of now that's what it is mediocre MTV scifi show.

Wow that was long winded for me but I had high hopes for this one and they just aren't up to snuff the acting's not that good and the script is not THAT well done, they throw in a little gore for shock value and it's done poorly and not really needed if the show was done well. Well nuff said , hope they correct this one but it feels kinda like an overseas copy of a really good American show. Sorry guys but you know USA makes the most entertaining movies and shows... we just make them in Canada now LOL

OK I am Australian and I watched 5 mins of this and knew right off it was made in Australia with a full Australian cast but one.

For some reason it might be the lack of syfi series made in Australia, Australian directors and actors like to treat all work as Art house drama. We just don't do suspense well. So saying that, this makes the first ep very disjointed. Like other reviewers, you do not feel a connection to the characters. This I blame the director. The acting is fine if you can get over the bad American accents. Flynn the main is pretty good with his dialect, the others need a lot of work. But the whole ep is all over the place. As viewers we want to love the main guy we want to have empathy for him weather it be a syfi or crime show. Sadly if the directing does not pull together suspense and let the characters develop I see this not picking up a second series.