La Cacería

As a big fan of both Benecio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones, I might be slightly biased, but that's only because I really enjoy seeing them act. That said, there are in fact movies with BDT in them that I don't care for, and the same goes for TLJ, so obviously there's more to it than that here. To me, this movie pays homage to, or at least was clearly inspired by, the first Predator movie and in ways also US Marshals which starred TLJ in a similar role. But what I really loved about The Hunted was the polarity of the characters; the coldness of Del Toro, with a pinch of humanity at the beginning, and the civility of Jones, while being detached from the world and conscious of his deeds. Action wise the movie is a little scarce, though the war-like prologue wasn't without it, just a different kind of violence. The climax was satisfying, albeit a little drawn out even for my taste; it was the cat and mouse second act that kept me going.

How could they have made this story better. There wasn't a need for more dialog or love story and the fight scenes were amazingly well done. Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro played expertly off one another. I didn't flash onto another film when I was watching this. I was surprised to read a comparison to Rambo. What? How is that even possible. Other than the military theme (which is rather minimal in this film, since Aaron could have easily been CIA, etc.) and people being killed, what is the connection?

While Rambo is gory and violent and rather gratuitous, The Hunted is none of these. The worst we get with the "killings" are a few glimpses of *photos* if the hunters killed at the beginning of the film. I guess this is a thinking man's action film and for those that don't want to think, they will be quick to put it down.

Jones and Del Toro show why they are amongst the best of their respective generations. Not only with strong acting, but also for the precisely coordinated and physically demanding fight scenes. While it may be hard to believe that Jones can deliver such impressive action at his age, he is more than believable as the type of grizzled ass-kicker who can square up against Del Toro's world-class assassin. The movie's plot is too simple; its basically two men hunting each other. Still, legendary director William Friedkin delivers a sharp well-paced 90 minute chase through the film's third star, the beautiful city of Portland and the magnificent forestry that surrounds it.

This is one of those movies that people will either love or hate. It has it's flaws for sure, but this movie speaks to primitive, macho mano-a-mano movie lovers.

How realistic the knife fights are in this movie remains to be seen, although kali, the martial art used as the base for the fight scenes, is a powerful fighting style. But they are exciting to watch, and both Jones and del Toro inhabit their characters with enough gusto and panache that the movie can be very enjoyable to watch.

It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the Hunted will make lots of action movie and martial arts movie fans pleased and satisfied.

The movie is pretty well-produced overall, though there are a couple of glaring editing goof-ups (the knife being dunked into water, for example.) And the fact that it's clear Jones and Del Toro are doing much of their own stuntwork in the fighting sequences (and other places) is pretty impressive.

However, there is really nothing of substance here that will make you remember the movie long after you've seen it. While the action gets bloody at times, the actual struggling around is only okay at best. The Jones and Del Toro characters are thin, with little background revealed about them, and they don't have that much dialogue. There are some interesting themes that start to peek out, but they are simply not expanded on. (Like: Why didn't Jones' character answer those letters he got? You have to hear the explanation from director Friedkin on one of the DVD documentaries!) Ultimately, the movie becomes a simple-minded action movie, of the mentality of many direct-to-video movies.

A P.S. to Hollywood filmmakers: If it is heavily snowing in British Columbia, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that at the same time it would be sunny and warm in Oregon! The weather patterns in both places are more or less the same!