Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Hunted Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 23, 2022

The Hunted has an air of familiarity about it. There's something of a First Blood vibe going on: a mentally distressed soldier, who has been groomed to be a killing machine, finds himself pursued by the law through picturesque Northwestern terrain. However, the character is neither as complex as John Rambo, nor is the story overtly engaging. The film is not as well made, either, something of a surprise given that it's directed by the legendary William Friedkin, who gave audiences classics like The French Connection and The Exorcist. Still, it's a competent if not somewhat trite and derivative film that salvages enough from the raw materials to build a passably interesting and somewhat viscerally engaging film.

Sergeant Aaron Hallam (Benicio del Toro) is a soldier trained in the art of killing and survival. He has learned under the best: L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones). Hallam's tour of duty in Kosovo and his witness to horrific wartime atrocities has wounded his psyche to an irreparable level. When in the otherwise serene woodlands of the Great Northwest, Hallam kills two deer hunters. Bonham is quickly enlisted to help bring Hallam in, but the student knows the master and the pursuit is not easy. The men find themselves on a bloody collision course.

The film's core familiarity doesn't necessarily detract from the essential experience, but it does limit its effectiveness. Hallam may be a more broken man than John Rambo. Rambo was certainly haunted by the pains of war, but he only pushed back against personal injury, insult, and injustice in self-defense. Hallam is a murderer. The stakes are different, the psyches are different, but stripped down the men are not entirely dissimilar, and the movie's similarities do not end there. If del Toro's character is a John Rambo-inspired ex-military survivalist broken by war, then it is easy to see that Jones' character is something of a hybrid of First Blood's Sam Trautman (the man who trained Rambo) and Will Teasle (the man pursuing Rambo). He is also in some ways familiar to the character he played in The Fugitive as that relentless pursuer who will stop at nothing to bring in his target. It's all very much cut-and paste, and even the heightened emotions and deeper connections between the characters cannot do much to stymie the barrage of same-feeling vibes that pulse through the film.

Give The Hunted this, however: it is incredibly raw and visceral. The climactic confrontation is as bloody as any slasher movie, but with a far more realistic and intensive structure. The film takes great pride in the authenticity of its fight scenes, of the tracking and survival capabilities of its characters, and the silent and deadly chemistry between its leads. For all of the familiar bits in play the movie thrives most assuredly on the depth of body and spirit shared between Hallam and Bonham. The build-up to the climactic confrontation sometimes lacks ingenuity, but the confrontation itself is a prime example of raw human emotion let loose in blood and instinct. It's very well done and, because of the movie's relatively lean structure, the journey there is more than tolerable, even with the largely uncreative components otherwise at work.

The Hunted Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is a very shaky looking transfer that appears to be not appreciably superior to what one would expect form an upscaled DVD. It's hopelessly flat with a heavily processed look. There is not much of a filmic appearance to it. Some grain has been left intact but there is the look and feel of processing that has robbed the image of its naturally filmic texture. Only occasionally do some decent facial details appear to be in evidence, and likewise various location elements simply fall flat in appearance, whether woodland details during the killing and pursuit earlier in the film or the dense urban concrete in a chase sequence later in the film. Visually, the whole production just feels off and the Blu-ray certainly does the image no favors. Colors are likewise flat. There is no sense of depth of any kind, no real vitality or tonal solidification at work. The image is terribly depressed with a heavy gray blue temperature that is obvious even amidst the barrage of pallid greens seen throughout the film. Skin tones are pasty, whites are creamy, and black levels waver between bright and flat and crushed. There are precious few upsides here; as noted detail can look solid at times, the print shows no serious wear, and the encode appears OK, but this is not an attractive image in the least. The 2.5/5.0 score generally holds but at times could be said to teeter on excess generosity. 2.25 is probably the best score.

The Hunted Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount brings The Hunted to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The opening wartime action sequence offers the expected symphony of violent wartime sounds, with gunfire blasting from every corner, screams emanating from all around the listening area, explosions bursting out of every speaker, and the subwoofer delivering a series of prodigious thumps and bumps that give frightening depth and terrifying weight to the horrific action. This is the most sonically intense portion of the track. Some action scenes later also offer robust immersion, such as a rushing waterfall heard during the climactic confrontation. This is more front heavy than it is surround intensive, but there is still some decent immersion at play. The track also offers well defined ambient support. Distant booming thunder in the 28-minute mark, for example, plays well in proportion to the setting and sets the mood quite nicely. Musical engagement is pleasantly clear and nicely spaced with some quality surround and subwoofer support elements. Dialogue can be a little less than ideally presented, shallow and competing with background content (listen around the 22:35 mark). However, most of the time, it is clear, well prioritized, and center positioned.

The Hunted Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Hunted includes a good array of legacy bonus content. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Audio Commentary: Director William Friedkin explores the film.
• Pursuing The Hunted (480i, 8:16): Discussing project inspirations and origins including Tracker Tom Brown's work on the film, story details and plot dynamics, characters and performances, and more.
• Filming The Hunted (480i, 9:33): The film's "lean and mean" runtime and structure, cinematography, chase scene construction, and making the Kosovo sequence.
• Tracking The Hunted (480i, 4:26): Following up on real life Tracker Tom Brown's work on the film, partially encompassing content from Pursuing 'The Hunted.' The piece looks at his training techniques used to enhance the film's authenticity.
• The Cutting Edge (480i, 8:41): A closer look at shooting at key locations, safety on the set, and hand to hand and knife fight sequence construction.
• Deleted Scenes (480i, 9:47 total runtime): Included are FBI Sting Section, Chenowith Arrives at Zaner's, Bonham Climbs Tree, Van Zandt Says Hallman's Gone, Bible Reading and Loretta's Bedtime, and Rock Trap in Woods.
• Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:22).

The Hunted Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Hunted may lack full creative genius, but the visceral physical and emotional content more than make up for any structural shortcomings. The lead performances are solid, even if Jones cannot escape playing variations of other characters while del Toro does his best to build a darker John Rambo. Paramount's Blu-ray is of questionable quality. The video presentation is wanting. The audio is fine, mostly, and the supplements are workable, even if they are all legacy. Recommended.