The Hunters

Wow people are incredibly critical for what was a TV movie. It was a good movie. It might not have been the best I've ever seen. But it was solid enough.

It had good actors. The plot and character development could have been more, but you can't expect perfection from a TV movie.

It had suspense with a certain amount of surprise. Decent direction, good special effects.

The movie ended with me wanting more.

To all the people saying the story has been done before.... sure there's similarities. Once Upon a Time, Indiana Jones, The Liberians, Warehouse 13, etc. But most stories have been done before and redone into something else. This story was original enough that it was boring.

Other reviews say "Indiana Jones meets the librarian"... and frankly that's an insult to the librarian..

Indiana Jones has cheese in it as its a cheese burger and an essential ingredient in its composition, but this movie "THE HUNTERS" is lacking actors, direction and a decent script. Its trying to be a hamburger and all it has to offer is stale bread.

It feels 'made for television' and the special effects (I wont call it CGI because it looks worse the 1977 Star Wars episode 1.)

Bottom line is don't watch it. Even if you think 'I'd really like to watch an adventure movie' please don't. I'm trying to help you!

From the very opening, this had TV written all over it.

The locations imply that production values were good, but the actors, outfits, make-up, etc., all said that there was a second-rate production team behind it (nobody seemed to sweat or get dirty hiking through jungles, for instance, and these little details really take a viewer out of a tale on a subconscious level).

As for the plot: well, it's a very TV-series-pilot affair, with villains who shoot their own henchmen in the backs for no apparent reason (and with crossbows(!) that I imagine were hidden away inside a bra) and action that is neither gritty nor pops off the screen as impressive - actually, think of the kind of bland fights from Xena and just know that they were better...

I suppose that really, this film was aimed at children/young teenagers, so I wasn't the target audience, but from an adult's point of view, there's nothing new and what there is has been done better a hundred+ times already.

Well you can't blame the failure of this film to take off on the cast, because they were a capable and experienced cast, even the younger actors. However, they are given absolutely nothing to sink their teeth into. Everything about the flick is just watered down and meandering. If this had been a Disney or Hub flick it would have worked, or even if upgraded to a full blown fantasy flick, it would have worked, but it feels completely like this is a first draft and not a full fleshed film. The script is thin with stick figure characters, clotted with toss off explanations to move the story and beyond cliché plot points (the Asian assassin was almost painful to watch). Everything it had going for it is wasted.Complete and total lack of backstory. It would have been great to know how Tripp's techie skills and Pax's fighting skills had previously reared their heads, it was screaming for some actual examples of the fairytale items in modern times, and someone with a much cleverer wit to punch up the one liners. It seems like the money ran out somewhere, but there was no going back to get a good finished product. The cast did what they could with what they had.

Brothers Paxton (Robbie Amell) and Tripp Flynn (Keenan Tracey) find their parents (Michelle Forbes, Dan Payne) have gone missing, and they're in a secret society of Hunters who track down legendary artifacts for safe keeping. The brothers and friend Dylan (Alexa Vega) have to track down a secret artifact and save the Flynn parents.

There are some good actors working here including the great Victor Garber. But I'm not sure the material is up to it. While the premise of a secret society is interesting, it's been done better elsewhere. This feels like a TV movie pilot hoping for a series pickup.

I get that they're trying to be a different looking thriller. People with crossbows look silly unless they can explain they're some kind of magical crossbows. The production isn't big enough to get the look right. The action isn't strong enough to be exciting. The CGI is lesser TV level. Everything is just slightly not quite enough.