The Hunted (2003 film)

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This article is about the 2003 film; for other uses see The Hunted.
The Hunted

Theatrical release poster
Directed by William Friedkin
Produced by James Jacks
Ricardo Mestres
Written by David Griffiths
Peter Griffiths
Art Monterastelli
Starring Tommy Lee Jones
Benicio del Toro
Connie Nielsen
Music by Brian Tyler
Cinematography Caleb Deschanel
Editing by Augie Hess
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) 2003
Running time 94 min.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $50 million
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Hunted is a 2003 film directed by William Friedkin and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro. Brian Tyler composed the film's score.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In the Pacific Northwest wilderness, two hunters are tracked and viciously murdered by Aaron Hallum (Benicio del Toro). In the wilderness of British Columbia, L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones), a former special operations instructor, is approached and asked to apprehend Hallum, his former student who has "gone renegade" after suffering severe battle stress from his time in Kosovo.

Bonham is assisted by an FBI task force, led by an agent-in-charge Abby Durrell (Connie Nielsen). Despite the continuing presence of the FBI and local authorities, the search begins and ends as a personal battle between Bonham and Hallum, who contends that the murdered hunters were in fact "sweepers" (assassins who kill other assassins who get out of line).

[edit] Production

The film was partially filmed in and around Portland. The technical adviser for the film was Tom Brown, Jr., an American outdoorsman and wilderness survival expert. The story is partially inspired by a real-life incident involving Brown, who was asked to track down a former pupil and Special Forces officer who had evaded capture by authorities. This story is told in Tom's book, Case Files Of The Tracker.

[edit] Reaction

The overall critical reaction to the movie was negative. It scored a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of 140 reviews. Many reviewers noted striking similarities to Rambo. Rolling Stone calling it "Just a Rambo rehash,"[1] while Rex Reed of the New York Observer called it a "Ludicrous, plotless, ho-hum tale of lurid confrontation."[2] The UK magazine, Total Film said the film was "scarcely exciting to watch."[3]

A minority of reviewers praised the film, particularly for the fact it kept the special effects and stunts restrained. For example, Roger Ebert said, "We've seen so many fancy high-tech computer-assisted fight scenes in recent movies that we assume the fighters can fly. They live in a world of gravity-free speed-up. Not so Friedkin's characters."[4] Time Out London took a similar view.[5]

What the narrator says at the beginning is the first stanza of the Bob Dylan song "Highway 61 Revisited." A short reprise of the stanza is also said as the last lines of the movie. The song is also included in the soundtrack, but in a Johnny Cash version.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Hunted : Review : Rolling Stone
  2. ^ The Hunted Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
  3. ^ Total Film - The Hunted
  4. ^ :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: The Hunted (xhtml)
  5. ^ The Hunted Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Films directed by William Friedkin
Good Times (1967) • The Birthday Party (1968) • The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) • The Boys in the Band (1970) • The French Connection (1971) • The Exorcist (1973) • Sorcerer (1977) • The Brink's Job (1978) • Cruising (1980) • Deal of the Century (1983) • To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) • Rampage (1988) • The Guardian (1990) • Blue Chips (1994) • Jade (1995) • Rules of Engagement (2000) • The Hunted (2003) • Bug (2007)