Hunters

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

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.

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.

In order to mix mystery and action, the show chooses a more militaristic approach to the usual premise. It doesn't provide much in terms of characters, although there might be slight potential here. For action itself, the camera is unsteady and the dark tone of cinematography doesn't help much. There's not much here that bring hook and creativity beyond the casual draw.

Flynn (Nathan Phillips) is an agent with difficult situation, wife missing and awkward step-daughter. The strange relationship with his wife's daughter can be appealing in mildly dysfunctional kind of way, but the acting doesn't create any spark. Flynn himself is the typical agent, while this secret organization lacks any appealing identity.

The pilot misses its chance for impressive introduction, something similar to MiB first initiation that really sets the tone. While it may be done to keep the mysticism, a series with organization at the core needs to establish itself well, yet Flynn is merely unceremoniously thrown in. The antagonist creature has a good design to it, the make-up does present something humanoid.

Graphic is occasionally too dark, which can be distracting. It tries to bring more authentic military look and the shaky visual might diminish the effort. The narrative doesn't pique much interest either, it might utilize the thriller aspect, yet even this is rather questionable as none of the characters can effectively draw audience to emotionally invest in the series.

"Hunters" manages to cover the basic sci-fi, but there's little drive to push the series further.

Episode 1 was quite a failure in presenting the series properly. Too much of action and too little plot. Unfortunately I didn't continue the series based on the poor first episode, but I got curious by the latest episode 04 due to boredom and after watching it I was kinda hooked and played all the episodes in reverse to get the whole story. The main unit characters (3) are the most interesting part in the whole series due to their changing relationship with each other (hate/curiosity/confusion). I smell a possible alien/ human relationship coming...hopefully. There is one thing especially which is still bugging me and it is the main female character (who should be the lead) who is pictured to be quite strong because she's alien, has violent/ sexual urges etc but in every fight she has been in, she loses or somehow the suspect escapes. WTF? She should kick some serious ass. Make her more Domina, scary in a sexy way.