Hunt Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Hunt Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 29, 2024

Lee Jung-jae's "Hunt" (2022) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include filmed introduction by stars Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung; making of featurette; footage from the Cannes Film Festival; and more. In Korean or English, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

No one should be surprised that Lee Jung-jae’s directorial debut, Hunt, is such an impressive film. After all, he was part of the great renaissance of Korean cinema that started in the late 1990s, and some of the films he appeared in, like Il Mare, are now rightfully considered contemporary classics. So, Lee Jung-jae is not a newcomer who somehow struck gold with Hunt. He has more than two decades of solid experience in the Korean film industry, which is the source of the quality that is on full display in Hunt.

A short text clarifies that Hunt begins sometime after the military coup d'état that installed Chun Doo-hwan as president of South Korea in 1980. While massive protests are being held across the country, the head of the KCIA initiates a hunt for an elusive North Korean spy known as Donglim, who has unrestricted access to top-secret information that is available only to operatives in the upper echelons of its two subdivisions, The Domestic Unit and the International Unit. There are concerns that Donglim is also working to set up the assassination of Chun Doo-hwan, which would allow North Korea to pursue unification with South Korea on terms that would reset the balance of power in the entire region. Even though America has a diplomatic relationship with Chun Doo-hwan, behind the scenes its top strategists are working on a completely different plan as well.

The two men who are tasked to identify Donglim are Park Pyong-ho (director Lee Jung-jae), head of The Domestic Unit, and Kim Jung-do (Jung Woo-sung), head of the International Unit, who are already suspicious of each other. Their investigations have different starting points, and while both make some progress, they also repeatedly fail to close transfer channels, allowing Donglim to identify informers, double agents, and defectors trying to bring down the communist regime in Pyongyang. When a new director of the KCIA arrives, Park Pyong-ho and Kim Jung-do are given an ultimatum to take out Donglim before Chun Doo-hwan travels to Bangkok for an important international summit.

Even though Hunt is virtually impossible to spoil, it is best not to highlight the key developments from its final third because they alter the angle from where the drama is observed and rationalized, and at the same time allow the two leads to provide interesting commentaries on their philosophies of life, which are predictably political as well. In other words, Hunt is a multi-layered film, and it is best to receive its messages as they are timed by its creator.

Ultimately, however, the spy game and high-octane action around it are just a ruse for a thought-provoking dissection of a very familiar state apparatus with seemingly unrestricted powers. Indeed, while the spy game is underway, the people who direct it, all of them unelected state bureaucrats and security professionals, have the right to profile anyone as a “spy” and crush him, slowly or instantly. Naturally, the big picture becomes quite unsettling because suddenly there are all sorts of mini-dictators committing atrocities in the name of national security and several other tired political ideologies.

Hunt should be given credit for correctly profiling the North Koreans and their lackeys as well. They repeatedly place The Party above all else and declare their loyalty to it, and if anyone strays from its chosen path, he is promptly eliminated by his comrades. In other words, Hunt correctly depicts The Party as a political cult whose members, some irreversibly brainwashed, some partially awake, would do anything to ensure its survival. (The finale does not surprise at all for this very reason).

The leads and the large supporting cast are excellent. However, Hunt maintains a wild tempo from start to finish, assuming that everyone would be comfortable with it. This is unlikely to be the case because once the search for Donglim is initiated there is a massive amount of very interesting information coming from all sorts of different directions.

Hunt Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Hunt arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment.

The overall quality of the technical presentation is good. However, I think that some small optimizations could have been made to ensure that compression artifacts are avoided. While viewing the film, I noticed that in a couple of areas clothes can reveal small anomalies, such as the ones seen in screencapture #7 (see left side of the frame). On the other hand, more than two-thirds of the film are quite dark, so casual viewers more than likely won't notice any anomalies at all. Even on a very large screen, clarity and depth can be very impressive, so a lot of the fast-moving action footage looks terrific. Colors are stable. Image stability is outstanding. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Hunt Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I viewed the entire film with the original Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, which is outstanding. Admittedly, the film provides endless opportunities for it to impress -- the sound design is exceptional, so even the smaller action sequences produce quite incredible dynamic contrasts -- but I still think that the mixing is terrific, too. Clarity, sharpness, and balance are excellent as well. The English translation is very good.

Hunt Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Greeting From Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung - a short video introduction by the two stars of Hunt. In Korean, with English subtitles. (1 min).

• Making of Hunt - in this short program, Lee Jung-jae explains what motivated him to direct Hunt. Several cast members comment on their characters and their dilemmas as well. In Korean, with English subtitles. (6 min).

• Double Cross! - in this short program, the two stars of Hunt, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung, quickly discuss their characters and the work they did together. In Korean, with English subtitles. (3 min).

• Behind the Scenes Footage - presented here is raw footage from the shooting of Hunt. With some exchanges in Korean. Not subtitled. (7 min).

• Cannes: 24 Hours - presented here is footage from Cannes, where Hunt was screened and nominated for Camera d'Or Award for Best Directorial Debut. With music. (2 min).

Hunt Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hunt is an outstanding directorial debut, and a few decades ago easily would have won the Camera d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival. If I had to describe it with a single sentence, I would say that it replicates the suspense of The Day of the Jackal, the intelligent twists of Ronin, and breathtaking action of Fire of Conscience. It is too bad that I could not see it theatrically because it must have looked sensational on the big screen. This recent Blu-ray release offers a good technical presentation of Hunt with several short but nice bonus features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.