Red Machine - Hunt or Be Hunted

When I read the storyline I thought I would like this movie especially when I saw some positive reviews. Plus there were some good actors in the cast. So, nature shots, good actors, all the ingredients for a good movie. But what a disappointment this was. It's one of the worst nature movies I saw in a long time. I just give it three stars because of some nature shots. The storyline is just awful. The actors were just doing their job, but when you have such a bad storyline it doesn't matter if you are a good actor or not. It's not going to save the movie. The movie is full of clichés that made me almost barf. Add to that the stupid idea that the bear is going to hunt everybody down in one night is too ridiculous for words. A bear that huge that it doesn't fit in your bedroom, professional hunters, poachers, and sheriffs, a lot of shooting, and never a hit. Those must be the lousiest shooters in history. Don't believe any positive review because it's a terribly bad movie.

When bodies start showing up in an Alaskan forest a local sheriff and his estranged brother go about find the bear before a seasoned hunter does.

It's hard not to draw comparison to other persons versus nature films, to it's credit it has a seasoned studded cast in what could have been the Jaws (1975) or Moby Dick of Bear movies. The location scenery and setting is fantastic, and there's some grizzly scenes (no pun intended) of hard to watch dead bear cubs, body dismemberment and so on. There's an abundance of kills in the forest, lodge attacks and in cars. Even with Saw V director David Hackl and with writers Guy Moshe and J.R. Reher it oddly feels only as special as AVP Requiem's brotherly love and forest scenes mixed with Abominable (2006).

Veteran Scott Glenn, excellent James Marsden, Thomas Jane as a hunter character turned conservationist who butts heads with Billy Bob Thornton's hardened hunter can't fix the lack of tension or continuity. Neither can the fine looking actors distract the fact that there's a TV air about the whole affair. The score is however great coupled with some fine cinematography and the star, bear Bart, possibly related to the late Bart the Bear and his mother from Grizzly (1976) steals the show.

It's nowhere near executed as well as The Edge (1997) or Ghost in the Darkness (1997), nor does it say more about conservation than The Bear (1988). What could have been Jaws, is more Orca - The Killer Whale.

As a killer bear film on revenge it's up in the top ten, but how many murderous bear films are there?

I have seen so many killer bear movies, and none of them have really pulled it off really well. I am pleased to say that this is the best killer bear movie I have ever seen. How you can train a bear to do all of that is completely amazing! The plot is pretty good, but not great. But at the same time, it's quite simple. People are getting killed in the Grizzly Maze and when a bunch of rednecks come by and start killing the bear's babies, you can imagine it doesn't help the situation at hand. The bear is now angry, and goes on an even bigger rampage to kill everything and everyone.

The acting was good, especially from James Marsden, Piper Perablo and Billy Bob Thornton. Billy Bob Thornton plays the professional, greedy, annoying bear hunter, and to be honest, he was hardly in it. He was only in it for 15 minutes.

Overall, it was a great movie. I was never bored. I was always interested. The script was a bit weak, but the main actors did well with what they had.

Overall, I would give this movie an 8/10. The final showdown was pure genius! And Bart The Bear is the best acting bear I have ever seen! Definitely recommended.

Review: I really didn't have high expectations for this film because it seemed like one of those typical, cheap straight to DVD movies but it actually wasn't that bad. The director spent some time giving the individual characters a background, so it didn't seem like a bunch of people in the woods running away from a massive bear. Anyway, the films about a guy called Rowan (James Marsden) who returns to his town to look for his friend who is missing in the woods. On his first night there, he picks up a girl in a bar and he takes her back to his hotel but the girl turns out to be a prostitute so he turfs her out and she ends up getting in trouble with her pimp. After saving her from a beating, he ends up in a fight on the street with the pimp so the police are called out to stop the brawl. His brother Beckett (Thomas Jane) happens to be the town sheriff so he picks him up at the incident and he questions him to find out why he has come back after such a long time. After spending the night with his brother, dead bodies turn up in the woods so Beckett goes to investigate while Rowan starts his journey to find his missing friend. As Becketts wife is in the woods taking pictures, he decides to go and find her because it's been reported that there is a killer bear on the loose. Rowan ends up saving Becketts wife from the killer bear and they all end up trapped in the wilderness. The only path home is through the Grizzly Maze but they have to tackle the angry beast to get back to safe ground. There is some intensity through the movie which I found quite enjoyable. The acting was pretty good from the whole cast, which made there situation feel believable, especially as the director chose to use a real bear. There are other elements that kept the movie interesting, like the poachers who were killing bears for money and Billy Bob Thorntons character who was a top class hunter, so there is some depth to the storyline. The action scenes at the end were also well put together and very intense so I don't know why this movie didn't make it to the cinema. There are some decent actors in the film like Billy Bob Thornton, Thomas Jane and James Marsden who seems to be in loads of movies nowadays, so I'm surprised that it went straight to DVD. Anyway, I quite enjoyed the movie and the fact that the director chose to use a real bear made it a joy to watch. Watchable!

Round-Up: James Marsden, 42, seems to be covering every genre in his career by starring in movies like the X-Men as Cyclops, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, 27 Dresses, The Box with Cameron Diaz, The Butler, 2 Guns with Denzel Washington, Anchorman 2 and Unfinished Business so he really has covered every spectrum of acting. He very rarely takes the lead in movies, but he definitely makes his presence known with his unique acting style and dashing smile, which is mentioned in Anchorman 2. Thomas Jane, 46, who plays his brother in this film, has struggled to make it as an A list actor but he has starred in some decent movies like Face Off, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Scott Pilgrim and Hustlers with the late Paul Walker but he's never played the lead in any of those movie. The one big disappointment of his career has to be the awful Punisher reboot which really didn't do his career any good. That was mainly due to the director who really failed to reboot the franchise but he hasn't been able to star in a big screen movie ever since. This movie was directed by David Hackl who also directed Saw V. He hasn't got that much experience behind the camera but I think that he done a decent job with this movie. He had some professional actors to work with, which included a bear and the storyline was well written so he must be happy with his achievements, especially as it's his only his second film.

Budget: $10million Worldwide Gross: N/A

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/horror/thrillers about a group of people in the wilderness trying to escape from a killer bear. 5/10

"Even grizzlies can get lost down there." Rowan (Marsden) has finally come back home after being gone too long. He wants to head into the dangerous grizzly maze for hiking. His brother, Beckett (Jane) doesn't want him to go due to the recent attacks. Reluctantly Beckett heads in to protect Rowan, find his wife, and and find the bear before it attacks again. This is a movie that you pretty much know what your going to get. Action and tenseness. The cast is pretty amazing for a movie like this. The movie is exciting and entertaining but some of the actual story gets lost in between the action. That isn't a bad thing but when you watch this you watch it for one reason. This is the type of movie where you can almost predict whats going to happen and there aren't any real surprises, but that said it is entertaining and well worth your time. Overall, not as good as The Edge, but still exciting and the cast makes it better than it actually is. I give this a B.