Night of the Hunted

This movie had amazing potential, but the severely saturated political BS and message passing was just too much.

A little political isn't bad but the writer went overboard from racial, vaccine, mask wearing, abortions, guns and religious bases touched. It was just as if the writer had gone crazy during Covid-19 shutdown and thought "how can I project me anger and frustration at the world"..and here we have the is projection.

The actual premise isn't unlike some other single shot location movies where the lead is trapped and 90% of the film is revolved around that place.

Splinter/Phonebooth/Night of the Living Dead.

The whole movie is really good considering the story. However, Hollywood could not refrain from the government narrative. They portrayed anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists as the culprits, which is a pathetic approach to dismiss anyone with a different perspective on the mass delusions promoted by governments. I felt a sense of nausea after watching this propaganda garbage. Nonetheless, the story takes you to an unknown world where you must question if you are a good person and confront all your past sins. I'll give it a second star just for this aspect. I cannot comprehend why the producers are endorsing this sickening narrative.

I have to be honest, this was not my favorite... there was just a lot of things that didn't work for me.

It felt like this movie was three hours long with very slow pacing and was quite repetitive in nature. The acting also generally didn't help, it wasn't the best on anyone's part and there wasn't a likable or redeemable character to enjoy. Also the amount of suspension of disbelieve required to navigate your way through this plot is hearty. But what really got me about this movie was the message/point.

It got to be extremely preachy, talking about all of these modern day issues... like, ALL of them. It felt like it was taking itself very seriously and thought that they were being very clever and woke while simultaneously not really saying or doing anything of substance. It touched on 101 different topics and issues, but none of them felt like the main premise. It also then left us completely and utterly unfulfilled in the end.

All of this added up begs the question, what was the point? I hate saying this about movies but it felt like a bit of a waste of time. It wasn't total trash but I would not recommend.

I like movies which takes place at an isolated gas station situated in the middle of nowhere.

I thoroughly enjoyed Open 24 Hours (2018).

This movie enticed me via the settings of a gas station but found it to be a disappointment.

Nothing original bah this unnecessary lengthy movie. The editing is so atrocious that the movie gets very repetitive n boring.

The villain doesn't sound intimidating or terrifying n there is absolutely no character study or background story.

This movie is lifted from so many other thrillers. Some of them r mentioned below.

Carnage Park (a psychotic sniper terrorizes a bank robber and his hostage). Carnage Park is boring n had lots of flickering lights n hand held shaky cam stuff.

Roadside (A couple fight for their lives when they are held hostage in their car by a concealed gunman at the side of a desolate road). Haven't seen Roadside but very bad reviews on IMDb.

Phonebooth (A publicist finds his life under threat when he answers a ringing phone at a phone booth. The caller tells him that he will be shot the minute he cuts the call).

Phonebooth is one of the best thriller n everything has already been said bah this movie.

Downrange (A group of friends are killed one by one by a ruthless sniper after they get stuck in the middle of nowhere).

Downrange is violent, brutal n tension filled. It's from the director of Midnight Meat Train.

And the recent To Catch a Killer (A cop is recruited by the FBI to help profile and track down a sniper).

This one has top notch acting n it is a thriller. This has more to do with catching the sniper.

The premise looked promising, but it quickly went downhill once the opening credits ended. When the film starts off with a woman texting her hubby about fertility clinics while her lover jumps in the shower, I'm struggling to understand how I'm supposed to root for her (not saying protags are saints, but at least build up to her flaws instead of smacking us upside the head). And speaking of smacking us, once the crazed sniper started ranting about every trendy social issue without taking a breath, I turned it off. I like scripts that are thought provoking, witty, deep, etc. This sounded written by a 20 year old undergrad at Berkeley who probably relies on his trust fund to pay for his "film aspirations." I could see this as a 30 minute episode (which is about as far as I got), otherwise it just drags and sucks my soul dry. Not to mention the plot holes and ridiculous suspension of disbelief required. I didn't care about any of the characters and certainly was in no mood to listen to a cheesy actor tick off every hot topic via walkie talkie. This was a wasted opportunity so I chose not to waste my time. Based on the reviews, I certainly didn't miss anything.