The Hunted

The Hunted (2003)

Director: William Friedkin

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Connie Nielsen, Leslie Stefanson, John Finn, José Zúñiga, Ron Canada

Writers: David Griffiths, Peter Griffiths, Art Monterasteli

Synopsis:

Survivalist and former military trainer, L.T. Bonham (Jones) is called in by the FBI to assist in tracking down a killer responsible for several ritualistic murders in and around Portland, Oregon. Bonham soon discovers that the killer is Aaron Hallam (Del Toro), a former student of his whose experiences in the military have turned him into a remorseless killing machine. Once Hallam escapes custody, Bonham must use all of the skills at his disposal to track down Hallam and bring him to justice. 

First Impressions:

I saw this movie in theaters back when it was released in 2003. At the time, I remember enjoying it quite a bit. It stars two of the best actors of their respective generations and was helmed by a well-regarded director. While this isn't a movie I'll watch on the regular, it is one that I'll pop in when I'm looking for a good chase movie. It's been a few years since I last viewed it, so I'm hoping not to be disappointed after watching it with a more critical eye.

Story/Direction:

 "He's unusual. He can kill anybody without regret. Most of the people he killed never knew he was in the same room as them."

This is not a film that's terribly heavy on story, like most good chase films. The movie starts off with Hallam, while still an active service member, on an operation in the former Yugoslavia. This is intended to offer a snapshot of some of the awful things that the character has see and do. It's effective in setting up Hallam as a character and some of the reasons why he ends up doing what he does in the movie. It then shifts to the Oregonian woods where Hallum hunts down and viciously murders two deer hunters. Likewise, the film gives us a short intro to Bonham as a character. The brief scene establishes Bonham as a skilled outdoors man with a soft-spot for animals. It's here that Bonham is contacted by the FBI and convinced to join their investigation and we find out that this isn't the first time the agency has asked him for help.

Those three opening scenes do a great job in setting up the two major players. It gives us just enough background to establish the who's and the why's and that's all we really need in this instance. As the story progresses, it makes use of flashback to further expand on the two men's relationship with each other but this is used sparingly and it doesn't interfere with the movie's pacing at all.

With he exposition being light, the film is free to focus on the hunt, which for the most part is quite engaging. The chase starts in the woods and then shifts to the city of Portland (and under-used movie locale in my opinion) and then shifts back to the wilderness. All in all I thought the story worked pretty well but there were parts in the third act that seemed a little outlandish, including a scene where Hallam forges a knife in a matter of minutes from scratch using a campfire and a old piece of metal (anybody that's seen an episode of Forged in Fire knows that's just not likely). This didn't take me out of the story too much, though and I was willing to overlook it.

Acting:

This film starred two of the top actors in Hollywood at the time (and some would argue still). Jones works his curmudgeonly terse magic, as usual in portraying Bonham. However, the grumpiness in this case covers up a lot of regret for the character. Jones plays the character as a man who has regrets about how he's spent his life. Even though he hasn't personally kill anyone, he taught others to do so and the viewer can tell it weighs on him. As a result, Bonham is very much like a standard Tommy Lee Jones character and, at the same time, also very different. Overall, I found it to be a great performance.

As for Del Toro, I'm a bit more mixed. He plays Hallam as very wooden and distant, which seemed off-putting at times. However, I think I understand what he was going for and by portraying the character this way it emphasized how detached from reality Hallam has become. I'd have to say that I think the performance was good but I think it would have been better if Jones' character was a bit more gregarious and not so withdrawn himself. That's not the fault of the actors however, that's really more of a script issue.

Other that the two leads there aren't a lot of noteworthy acting performances in the movie as everyone else is relegated to bit plays. I will give a shout out to Connie Nielsen for her role as FBI agent Abby Durrell. I've always been a fan of hers and I think she does well with limited material.

Visual/Special Effects:

There's not a ton of visual effects in this movie. The opening scene has a few explosions and other military-related effects but they're mostly heard and not seen. However, the makeup effects here are pretty good, particularly when it comes to wounds. The use of knives as weapons is pretty frequent in this film and the makeup department did a good job in making the various stab and slash wounds look decent. Other that that, though there really isn't much to say about the visual effects.

Score/Music:

I'm going to be honest, I was scarcely aware that the movie had any score at all. I really didn't notice it was there save for a few moments. I'm not sure if this was deliberate or not but I think it was effective for the overall feel of the movie.

Action:

Visceral, that's the word to best describe the action in this film. I don't mean visceral in the sense that it's gory but rather that the film has a certain grittiness to it. The action, particularly the fight scenes between Jones and Del Toro don't look choreographed, and I mean that in a good way. The fight scenes are very methodical rather than non-stop punch-fest. Both combatants take time to size each other up and attack with purpose, looking for an opening to exploit. It's very well done overall.

However, I find it odd in a movie about a manhunt, that there's very few chase scenes in it. The third act has a very nice chase scene through downtown Portland but other than that there wasn't really that much chasing. Not that it's bad or anything, just unusual.

Final Verdict:

I still like this movie, despite its wobbly third act. It's still a tense chase movie with two pretty great actors working their craft.