The Hunted Reviews

The Hunted was a pretty decent action flick. It's quick paced and the chase never lets up until the very end. I liked that it kept it going fast because this film had the potential to be a sleeper otherwise. Tommy Lee Jones is comfortable in these types of roles and he's good in them. Another great job. Benicio Del Toro is still a fairly new actor for me. I haven't seen him a lot of his films. I really like him and I thought he was great. But I saw him more as a tortured soul in this film. You teach people to be a vicious killer you shouldn't be surprised when that's what they turn out to be. The fight scenes were pretty intense and well choreographed. Good movie to watch on a rainy Cali night.

William Friedkin's The Hunted is an action thriller that starts off well before the slow decline.There really isn't much in the way of surprise when it comes to the story, which is probably why a run time just below 90 minutes is appropriate. The concept of an expert survivor tracking another expert works well in the wilderness, but the thrills decrease when the plot decides to move things into a more urban setting.The violence is bloody and realistic. The same can be said about the close quarter combat that occurs. The Hunted isn't exactly loaded from start to finish with this stuff; however, there is enough to get by.Tommy Lee Jones is a solid selection and plays his role well. Benicio Del Toro's line delivery is a bit awkward which makes him seem like a miscast. Connie Nielsen fills in the rest of the film when it isn't on Jones or Del Toro.For what it is, The Hunted is a watchable 90 minute production. Not much more than that.

The Hunted is possibly one of the most overlooked films in recent history of cinema. This dark and even nightmarish action-thriller is up there among with William Friedkin's masterful Bug as his best film to date. Still some mysterious reason it has never gained the reputation or the audience which it truly deserves. It is possible that many people see this nothing more than a simple chase film, but underneath it's surface is a deeply psychological study about us humans and our animal side.
Once again Friedkin dives headlong into his main characters psyche and takes us disturbingly close to a man whose rationality and mental state has gone all topsy turvy because of the horrors he has witnessed while doing a military operation in Serbia.
Friedkin has always had a unique sense of telling his stories. No matter how ordinary the screenplay might be, he has always injected something of his own into those stories. I cannot exactly say what that something is but it is somekind of a extremely grim tone which seems to follow his every film.
One of this great film's biggest strenghts is it's visual mastery and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel does wonders with his camera. There is for example this breathtaking chase set-piece through downtown and a climax which must be one of the most furious showdowns between two men ever put on a celluloid. Friedkin injects his bloody and dark tone into these action scenes and turns them into something we have never seen before.
I must also mention that it is great to see that Friedkin has had patience to make duels between his main characters extremely authentic and raw. These are not just some ordinary fist fights, these confrontations actually feel real and messy. Extra kudos goes for Brian Tyler's dynamic score which fits perfectly into this film's mood.
For people who like action films or psychological thrillers The Hunted is a must see. Seek this underrated gem out and see it immediatly.

The Hunted is an exciting action film that delivers. Directed by William Friedkin, The Hunted is a thrill a minute action film. I really don't get the bad rep the film has received. The film is very enjoyable, and if you love a good action film with a strong cast, then this is a must see film. The film may not be perfect, and the plot may suffer st times, but Friedkin's directing keeps the film interesting. Benicio Del Toro is great here, and this is yet another strong performance. The Hunted is pure mindless fun, sure the plot at times is uneven, but the acting and the action delivery makes up for it. This isn't the film the best that Friedkin has directed, but this is still a good effort nonetheless. The actors make the film better than it is, and it's always exciting to see Benicio Del Toro and Toimmy Lee Jones go head to head. Friedkin's directing is immaculate and though the plot is weak at times, the performances alone make the film worth watching. I was very much entertained by the film, and thought that despite its imperfections, it was very entertaining with good thrills and good action, and above all, good acting. Overall there is is plenty of good talented actor here to keep you interested from start to finish, and though it's nothing new, it's always fun to watch. If you're looking for a mindless actioner with good directing and a good plot, this mis a good enough film for you to see.

Benicio is a good actor, but he can be guilty of overacting occasionally. Tommy Lee Jones is a solid one dimensional actor, he does well in films like these. Good fight scenes in the wilderness, making this film a mix between The Fugitive and First Blood.

A flawed, still somewhat enjoyable action movie concerning a military assassin and his trainer and after the assassin is wanted by the FBI, the trainer is sent after him. While the beginning and very end of the film are formulaic to the max, this movie features one of the best hand-to-hand combat scenes I've personally ever seen, which makes up for a majority of the movie's flaws and bad scripting. The biggest thing is that this movie is so forgettable. I've seen it two to three times and the only scenes I remember really are a chase scene and that combat scene, that's about it.

Started so well but turned into a poor man?s U.S. Marshals towards the end. Disappointing!

Tense. Good.

Aaron Hallam: If you cross this line, you better be ready to kill me.

A chase movie with lots of bloody action.

In way of plot, the movie doesn't get to detailed. Benicio Del Toro is a special forces soldier running amok in the woods and Tommy Lee Jones, his former trainer, is brought in to bring him down. Easy enough, but it is made better by up close and personal knife fights.

Director William Friedkin brings a visceral quality to the very tense one on one scenes involving the fight scenes.

It also helps that the scenery looks terrific, taking place mainly in a forest setting. Then there's Connie Nielson in a supporting role and enough rugged looks from both Jones and Del Toro.

L.T.: 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.

William Friedkin's deterioration as a director after "The Exorcist" was so spectacular that it's hard to believe he ever had any talent. Divine intervention for messing with the big fella, perhaps? This begins well enough with some effective contrasting of fire (Kosovo), ice (British Columbia) and forest (Oregon) scenery, but it's short on plot and character depth and scarcely does its two leads justice. There's lots of hand-to-hand combat and shots of Tommy Lee Jones pausing reflectively to sniff the air. In one ludicrous scene an on-the-run Del Toro stops to forge himself a new hunting knife, taking a quarter of the time it would take a Blue Peter presenter to make a novelty bookmark. Pretty poor stuff.

An explosive thriller. Blood-thirsty, thrilling and exhilerating. Delivers well-crafted action sequences. The chase scenes are awsome. Thet keep your pulse pounding and your heart racing. Fast, furious and ferousish with intensity that wont quit. Full-throttle excitment. Incomplete in many ways but is still exceptional. Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro are well matched and outstanding. Del Toro gives a fearless and chilling portrayel. Jones is subtle and strong.

I really wanted to like this, but it ended up falling to pieces, mainly because it is so much weaker than the films it heavily references/is influenced by. It does have some nice cinematography though.

This familiar, blood-drenched action picture pits a Special Forces instructor who teaches commandos how to track and kill against a former student who has become a renegade killing machine. A subtext involving delayed stress syndrome and a pretentious reference to the Biblical request for Abraham to sacrifice his son complement a series of chases, fights, captures, and escapes that defy credibility. Very impressed knife fights between two winners of Oscar for Supporting Actor, Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro.

Dark, disturbing - great director and cast. Unique and violent - but not as good on the action side.

A brute of a psychological thriller, it explores the psychotic bloodlust of a special forces assassin as his mental instabiity brings out his primal animal instincts - survival and the urge to kill. His mentor is reclucuntatly brought in to stop his protege, and then the most haunting man hunt in the movies begins.
I guess the thrill and horror laced imagery and feeling is attriubted to Friedkin's directing skills - the director of the Exorcist, so no surprise that if you do watch this flick, you would feel a scary tingle in your spine or chest.
Th movie is essentially a lengthly man hunt - its strong point from me was its imagery and tension which vibrates and moves like a restless wind, sometimes a light breeze, then suddenly a raging tempest. theres not much of a script, but then again, when I thought about it, its not essential either, the way this movie was made.

Its interesting..... I thought a lot about this just by watching the movie and "reading" and watching the scenes, not listening to an ambient script or wondering whats going on - in effect, its a reflexive, instantaneous and to my point of view, as simple as lifting a hammer up and then banging a nail into a piece of wood. Thats how I see it - a scene which is compared to the action of lifting up the hammer, then finally coming down with such a force to drive a nail in, which are of course the high tension action scenes. Its also very gory and there is a feeling of bloodlust and primal rage.... a movie which works on the basic instincts within a person. Benicio Del Toro is wonderful as the chilling killer, a man consumed by his training and experiences, becoming a sociopathic killing machine.... with no sense of turning off unless he is killed. tommy lee Jones is his mentor, and does what he does best, a gritty, tough as nails surviour and hunter, determined to stop his former pupil, knowing that he had a part in creating this horror.

Interesting concepts...... and interesting experiment of film making. Lucky it had a great cast backing it up or it could have been worse.

A cross between Rambo: First Blood and The Fugitive, if you like those you'll like this. Great performances and good fight scenes.

The fight scenes in this movie are some of the best I've ever seen, and Aaron Hallum is one of my favorite monsters on the loose. I kind of like seeing people turn into animals, and this film kind of gives voice to that sentiment. Very dark and bloody.

Good acting, weak story.

Blood-thirsty, thrilling and exhilerating movie. Very impressed knife fights between two winners of Oscar for Supporting Actor, Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro.

Action thriller film directed by William Friedkin and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro.Good action sequences, with great cast(Tommy Lee Jones is outstanding).Looks like "First blood", but just a little.

All good chase movies have one great thing in common, they all have one man that is being hunted and another that is the hunter. What sets this film apart from others of it's kind is that you can't tell who's the hunter and who's the hunted.




William Friedkin's "The Hunted" is fast paced, brutal, exceedingly smart, cunning and dark. It's not a completely original and at some points feel like across between Rambo: First blood and "The Fugitive. But that's okay because even though you get that strange feeling that you've seen it before you will still be very so entertained and trilled by this edgy and gritty film.



Benicio Del Toro is cunning, ruthless and deadly as villain of this film but Del Toro is so much more even if at first he may seem like a run of the mill psycho. But Del Toro proves to be more, allot more. Tommy Lee Jones is kind of a let down because it seems he's playing Sam Gerard again just with military training and amazing tracking skills. But Tommy Lee Jones is not a complete waste the fight scenes between him and Del Toro are enough to make you stop comparing his character in this film(Bonham) to his character in "The Fugitive" and start watching the most intense cat and mouse game you'll ever seen. The cast is exceptional under the careful direction of William Friedkin and really stand out as top notch in this nail biting thriller.



"The Hunted" may not impress you at first glance but once you get into it you will be sucked into a world of intensity, gritty on the edge fights, breath taking chases and twist at every turn. "The Hunted" will not fail to impress you or give you what you want and maybe even a little more, all in all it's the perfect example of one on one fights and how sometimes your best student can be your worst enemy.