The Hunt Reviews Are In, Here's What The Critics Think
A politically charged movie like The Hunt was almost certain to get noticed, but the fact that the film's particular politically charged violence led to the film being pulled from release once, with questions as to whether or not we'd ever see it, certainly increased the volume of the conversations around it. After a delay of several months, The Hunt is about to be released, and perhaps unsurprisingly given the content, there are some divisions regarding what people think, though those distinctions don't necessarily fall down political lines. And also most people agree Bettly Gilpin is awesome.
While The Hunt is a movie about liberal "elites" hunting down conservatives, as the initial premise was revealed, as recent trailers have hinted, that's not all the movie is about, and, in fact, the movie doesn't necessarily pick a side, deciding instead to skewer both sides of the political divide. This works for CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg, who gave the film four stars, saying...
Any movie that uses politics so openly is sure to be controversial, especially in an era like today where people seem as divided as ever. At the same time, a movie should also be entertaining, and The Hunt is certainly that, according to USA Today. The review also praises the film's ability to make both sides of the political divide the butt of the joke, but in the end, The Hunt is an entertaining action movie, largely thanks to a strong turn from Betty Gilpin, and hopefully we can all agree that's awesome.
However, while The Hunt may be a bloody good time that points the finger at everybody in an increasingly partisan society, Not everybody thinks that's enough. Collider is critical of The Hunt because, while the film may think everybody on both sides is being terrible, it has nothing to say beyond that fact.
Certainly, a film that is trying to balance the entertainment of an over-the-top violent action film with some real satire about current politics has a difficult road to travel, and while some think the movie does a decent enough job with all that, THR, thinks that ultimately, the movie falls a bit flat. While it calls the movie "guiltily engaging," it also thinks that, in the end, the issues become too much for an otherwise simple movie to handle.
Similarly, Empire, believes that The Hunt simply isn't as smart as it thinks it is, ultimately ruining what might have been a perfectly serviceable distraction otherwise.
It seems that, whatever your political stripes, The Hunt is going to take aim at you, and so clearly one's willingness to be the target may influence their opinion of the film. If you can handle that, you're probably ready for what will, at the very least, be an over the top, bloody, violent experience, and a strong performance by Betty Gilpin. Whether The Hunt's statements on politics will resonate beyond that, is probably something new we can all fight about.
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CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.