The Hunter (2012)

All Critics (82) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (25)

A movie with more plot than it can comfortably handle.

May 17, 2012 Full Review

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Top Critic

It's all intended to be darkly metaphorical. In actuality, it's a mediocre film unfolding without plan, purpose or enthusiasm.

May 3, 2012 Full Review | Comments (5)

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Not much happens in "The Hunter." And what little does happen, happens very slowly. And then is repeated.

April 19, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Soren Anderson

Seattle Times

Top Critic

The character arc is strong on paper but not well-realized on film, and therein lies The Hunter's greatest failing.

April 13, 2012 Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

By the time The Hunter jettisons its narrative ballast altogether and embraces its elemental appeal, it's too late.

April 13, 2012 Full Review

Adam Nayman

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

The film is really Dafoe's show, and he reminds once again why he is such a tremendous actor and also one so easy to underestimate and take for granted.

April 12, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Mark Olsen

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

The Hunter delivers a quiet and somewhat meandering story that wallows in self-importance and social agenda.

January 16, 2013 Full Review

Amy Curtis

We Got This Covered

Part character piece, part family drama and part survivalist thriller, it's most successful when Dafoe is patiently stalking through the woodland, as his craggy presence and the moody cinematography are enough to hold our interest.

December 10, 2012 Full Review

Stephen Carty

Flix Capacitor

Well-crafted and finely acted adventure story that held my interest throughout.

December 1, 2012 Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

This powerful drama is strongly anchored by Willem Dafoe's nuanced performance as a hard loner who is softened by a vulnerable family who finds a place in his heart.

November 27, 2012 Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

By the time Dafoe tracks down the elusive CGI'd thylacine, my eyelids had washed over with a glaze of numbness. The big winner here, Tasmania's tourist board.

October 22, 2012 Full Review

Erick Weber

NECN

"The Hunter" is mostly well-done, but where I would normally say "it never comes together," I actually have to say it comes together too late.

September 16, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

"The Hunter" is the most intriguing thriller to come along in the first half of 2012. Willem Dafoe continues to showcase why he's one of the best actors today and the cinematography for the film is absolutely breathtaking.

July 20, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Chris Sawin

Examiner.com

I've always thought of Dafoe as an overexposed but talented actor. In this kind of role, he excels. The story by author/filmmaker Julia Leigh is sound. And, the scenery and locations add so much to the experience. Take the trip.

July 19, 2012 Full Review

Paul Chambers

Movie Chambers

The Hunter is a very topical drama with ethics and human consciousness at its heart.

July 19, 2012 Full Review

Graham Young

Birmingham Post

The Hunter isn't a straightforward film, but it is a thought-provoking one.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

There's little to gird the loins or ply the grey matter.

July 11, 2012 Full Review

Ed Whitfield

The Ooh Tray

It is dank and clammy, with ice in its heart, but it is also beautiful and painful, its emotional climaxes hitting home like precision bullets.

July 8, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Jason Solomons

Observer [UK]

A slow-burner about survival in general that may seem predictable in parts and meander in others, but the intensity with which the psychological developments suddenly manifest is its ultimate power.

July 7, 2012 Full Review

Lisa Giles-Keddie

Real.com

A thoughtful, sinewy thriller that takes its time, but girds on a stellar, stoic performance from Willem Dafoe.

July 6, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Shaun Munro

What Culture

Entirely convincing as a loner on a mission, Dafoe makes this slow but beautifully shot film compelling throughout.

July 6, 2012 Full Review

Alex Zane

Sun Online

Dafoe is eminently watchable, and for the most part it's a distinctive, atmospheric movie that cherishes the persistence of mystery.

July 5, 2012 Full Review

Steve Rose

Guardian [UK]

There's a gripping moral weight to the questions of survival and profiteering the story raises, and the worryingly inexact moment when our interest in endangered species tips over into thoughts of human gain.

July 5, 2012 Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph

You want to say: "Can I have the message in a separate envelope and just spend the film looking at the landscapes?"

July 5, 2012 Full Review

Nigel Andrews

Financial Times

Unfocussed and thematically overburdened. More could have been said with less.

July 5, 2012 Full Review

Matthew Thrift

Little White Lies

The Hunter is a taut, thought-provoking and ultimately touching drama with wonderful work from Dafoe, O'Connor and Sam Neill as a local guide with conflicted loyalties.

July 4, 2012 Full Review

Henry Fitzherbert

Daily Express

• 1. Jack: He was as popular as a snake in a sleeping bag.
  – Submitted by Michael M (3 months ago)
• 1. Martin: What you want you will never get. It is gone forever now.
  – Submitted by ernest e (10 months ago)
• 1. Lucy Armstrong: It's probably better off extinct, if it's alive people will always want to find it, hunt it down.
  – Submitted by Eric R (11 months ago)
• 1. Lucy: Jarrah thought that someone was following him.
  2. Martin: Who?
  – Submitted by Jacob R (11 months ago)
• 1. Jack: He went missing last summer, search and rescue was out for two weeks. Not a trace.
  – Submitted by Jacob R (11 months ago)
• 1. Sass: Are you looking for my dad?
  2. Martin: No.
  3. Sass: But if you see him, you'll tell him to come home?
  – Submitted by Jacob R (11 months ago)