The Hunters

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.

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.

I really liked The Hunters. It was fun and action packed with just a little bit of romance. All the actors and actresses were really great and made the story carry well. The story was interesting with the whole fairytale stories coming into real life situations. The characters weren't even annoying and flowed naturally. However, it isn't perfect. The whole thing with the bad guys carrying crossbows and not guns confused me. I thought it was odd how they wouldn't take any shots at any of them. At least someone should have gotten hit to make the stakes higher. Also there were times when I was confused at how they got out of places, or solved a problem. And lastly, the part where Alexa's character is taken just didn't feel right. I mean she can fight obviously but she acted so helpless with guys who held crossbows. But, I still really liked this movie a lot and I think it deserves more credit.

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.