Hunting Season

For these usual geezer teaser movies there's usually a bait and switch. Mel would be on the cover but in reality just in the movie for 10 minutes. Not here actually. He is the lead. It's primarily his film and bless him he is trying but there's no budget to speak of and it shows. The movie meanders around and takes a long while to get to its eventual conclusion. I wouldn't be surprised if Mel really helped out on keeping the action quick and simple to cover for the fact they just had no money. Digital squibs and muzzle flashes galore kill any sort of bloodlust enjoyment in the finale and it's a routine a to b to c plot.

That would be fine if they could have delivered on some kind of satisfactory conclusion or character path. I mean let's be real it's 2025, I'm watching cause it's Mel Gibson. Just give Mel a decent reason for ripping throats and then set him free, you'll have all of our money. It's the John Wick principal of these types of movies. Just be the crowd pleaser. But instead it wanted to be a slow burn type mid 90s hometown thriller. But nothing in the script reaches above mediocrity so instead you have a painfully average vendiagram of the two and it all results in nothing satisfying.

I'll still give it props for being mostly competent and not a bait and switch.

Late at night and on streaming? It's fine. Cheap rental? Meh

Purchase? No.

Listen, this movie has problems, and is by no means perfect. The beginning is especially problematic, as the character wasn't introduced nor was it well acted. At a few minutes in, I thought I was watching an autistic person annoy someone, but apparently it was supposed to be a drug lord.

Luckily I stuck with it, because it does get a lot better. Gibson and his daughter are sweet, and the rest of the acting is serviceable. The story doesn't make a ton of sense as presented, yet still makes for an extremely watchable movie.

While there is nothing wrong with this movie there is nothing overly right about it either. Its VERY slow to get anywhere and by the time it does its over. The story line is a done to death clinche, acting is ok and most of it looks like its shot in someones backyard. As I said theres nothing really wrong with it if you go in with NO expectations, but if you are looking for a Mel Gibson blockbuster forget it.

Mel Gibson always seems to deliver movies which are exactly what you expect them to be.

It is a solid action movie with a bit of family in there.

Everything is solid, the acting the characters the script.

While you could argue it is a bit simplistic end of the day it is exactly what is expected and wanted in these sort of movies.

I strolled into Hunting Season braced for a bog-standard B-movie to chew through 90 minutes, but blimey, it snuck up and proper hooked me... tight as a snare drum once the gears grind into gear.

Mel Gibson's grizzled survivalist dad isn't reinventing the wheel, mind, but he lends that rumpled charisma to uplift a script that's lean and mean, no faffing about with needless bloat.

The young cast holds their own splendidly, dishing out heartfelt sparks amid the woodland grit, though the chief baddie veers a tad OTT, like a Bond villain gone feral.

That first half simmers deliberately, lulling you before unleashing a blistering 50-minute frenzy of revenge and raw survival - pure escapism that flies by.

A surprising 7/10 for this unpretentious thriller; underrates the charm if you ask me. Fancy a spot of family-fueled firepower? Grab the remote - it's a corker for a cosy night in.