Shadowhunter

IMDb's current rating of 4.7 is unjust: the film isn't perfect, but it is way better than that score suggests.

Scott Glenn stars as burnt out L. A. homicide cop John Cain, who escapes the rigours of his professional and personal life by travelling to a Navajo reservation in Arizona in order to transport a Native American killer, Nakai Twobear, back to the city. However, Twobear possesses supernatural powers that enable him to escape, and so Cain joins a posse to track down the fugitive and bring him to justice.

I'm not the biggest fan of the 'Magical Native American' trope wherein Native Americans are depicted as mystical, possessing of magical abilities, with the stupid white man refusing to believe - it's a tired cliché - but Shadowhunter manages to makes it work better than most thanks to tense direction from J. S. Cardone and solid turns from all involved, the cast including Robert Beltran (Star Trek: Voyager) as Navajo cop Frank Totsoni, Angela Alvarado as sexy tracker Ray Whitesinger, and Benjamin Bratt as the despicable Twobear, who is genuinely terrifying. The desert scenery is also great, with a suitably creepy setting for the finalé: a ruined Native American settlement high in the rocky hills, crawling with rattlers and scorpions.

The romance between Cain and Ray is a little unlikely (Glenn being Alvarado's senior by 25 years), and Cain taking a severe beating in the film's climax, but still pulling through, seems a little far-fetched, but the film is well written, competently directed and exciting enough for me to be forgiving of such things.

"Shadowhunter" is not perfect, but it is different. Scott Glenn in his usual sleepy performance mode, is the Los Angeles detective assigned to bring back a Navaho killer from the Arizona reservation. When the "Coyote Man" fugitive escapes from Glenn, a desert pursuit commences. Benjamin Bratt is strong as the rarely seen villain. Robert Beltran, the reservation sheriff, is along for the ride, and Angela Alvarado is the love interest female tracker. The scenery is gorgeous, the mystical aspects are interesting, and our hero takes some real punishment. My only objection is that the rather shallow romantic scenes between Glenn and Alvarado, are nothing but a damn distraction. - MERK

Good cast. Very well acted. GREAT scenery. And although my knowledge of such things is a bit limited, the Navajo beliefs were portrayed accurately. What's not to like?

Here you have a big city homicide cop whose life is in a shambles and whose wife is leaving him. He wants to quit, but his boss sends him on a "simple" prisoner retrieval.

Turns out the prisoner is a shape-shifter, escapes from the big city cop (Scott Glenn), and the ensuing search for the prisoner (Benjamin Bratt) brings the lead tracker (Angela Alverado) and cop together for an interesting and tense adventure.

Some of the dialog in the ending scenes was a bit cliché and tedious, but it did not detract from the overall enjoyment I had of the movie.

I liked it well enough, I may watch it a 2nd time in the future.

jonesey65244

Scott Glenn plays a big city cop suffering from major burn-out, both personally and professionally. He is sent to an Indian reservation in Arizona to extradite a serial killer with psychic powers. The killer escapes, but is able to remain psychically connected with Glenn, who accompanies the reservation police in their attempt to recapture the fugitive. Sinking into ever deepening depression Glenn is salvaged by a lady tracker, played by Angela Alvarado, and eventually finds redemption and romance with her. This is one of Scott Glenn's finest roles as well as being a tightly wound suspense thriller that will keep the viewer on the edge of their seat.

John Cain (Scott Glenn) is a homicide detective passing through personal problems. His wife has just left him, after nine years of marriage. His chief is aware of the problem, and asks him to bring a serial killer, Nakai Twobear (Benjamin Bratt), arrested in an Indian reservation. While driving back to the city with the prisoner, Cain hits the car and the murderer escapes. Cain joins Ray Whitesinger (Angela Alvarado) and other Indian policemen in the chase of the criminal, who has some sort of psychic powers. Weird things happen with Cain, whose soul was possessed by Twobear. In the end, Cain finds again the meaning of life with Ray. This movie has a good mystic story, well constructed, having action, romance and mysticism. I am a fan of Scott Glenn, but he really has a good performance, as a tormented man in a hard time. The slow pace is the unique problem in this good film. It is not a masterpiece, but also it does not deserve such a low rating. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): `A Presa' (`The Catch')