It wants so, so badly to tweak and provoke you. And indeed the delayed release of THE HUNT plays right into its story, with pre-emptive outrage becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. But anyone who sees this has little to be outraged or fired up about. As a straight-up hunting humans thriller the movie delivers the goods: the pacing of the action is more than solid, with the opening salvos of the hunt keeping us off-kilter as our anchor characters wind up quickly dispatched. A well-placed flashback brings us up to speed with the impetus behind and reasons for the hunt, setting the table for a charged and well-staged final confrontation.
All of which would be just dandy if the movie didn't reduce so many of its characters, on either side of the political fence, to crass stereotypes. Its efforts to muddy the waters with some welcome ambiguity come too late to really resonate with the action comedy preceding, and the end rings hollow where it should soar. (An interview on the movie and its surrounding controversy with director Craig Zobel is somewhat helpful, as within it he cheekily declares himself an "equal opportunity offender," which relieves us of the burden of giving a shit about anything he says.) As striking and even engaging a thriller as it often is, its broad satire renders the thing too shallow to be anything more than a diverting thrill-ride. Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't congratulating itself for being the most controversial movie of the year.
