I've just watched a bootlegged region one version of the new Tommy Lee Jones movie "The Hunted" and have to say it is f*cking brilliant!
Directed by William Friedkin, it is about a retired special forces advisor/tracker(Jones) who is asked by the FBI to help capture a crazed former soldier turned hunter (Benicio Del Toro) who is going to rediculous lengths to preserve the wildlife of the Oregan greenlands. It is revealed that Del Toro has gone AWOL from his unit after being awarded the silver star for combat in Serbia, but he is haunted by flash backs of the mass slaughtering of woman and children by the military there and starts making human hunters his prey.
The film runs along the lines of Jones other movie "The Fugitive" and also reminded me of an old trapper movie set in Canada starring Charles Bronson called "Death Hunt"(1982) particularly with the snowy setting in the woodlands and the tracking element. What really surprised me about the movie was its relience on good old fashioned acting and tension rather than CGI and is type of thriller which I thought Hollywood had stopped making in these PC times. Jones is bearded and rather grizzled but is in excellent form especially in the fight scenes. No stunt double is required as he and Del Toro engage in martial arts battles and he is actually very fluent and uses a lot of blocking and grappling moves not to mention Kali fighting techniques. Another thing about the film is the hidden layers in the story where we can clearly see that Jones and Del Toro are both mirror images of each other and Jones feels guilty for having trained Del Toro as a killing machine and for not responding to his letters when he is scared that he is starting to crack up. This is revealed in a flash back sequence where Jones is shown training a unit (which includes Benicio) on the techniques of knife combat and shows the arteries of the arm, throat and legs to sever in order to disable an attacker.
The film contains a little gun play but the knife is the main weapon used (as you've probably guessed) throughout the film and also shows how make a custom knife from heated iron which the villain and tracker have to resort to before the final showdown. The film is remarkebly savage throughout especially during the final show down with the two stars and is unquestionably the bloodiest, most violent fight seen I've ever witnessed in a mainstream movie.
Another thing I liked about the movie is that Jones while playing it tough displays a certain amount of vulnerability and that there is also a sympathetic element to Del Toro's crazed character.
All in all a very entertaining and watchable film.
When is it released in the U.K?
Directed by William Friedkin, it is about a retired special forces advisor/tracker(Jones) who is asked by the FBI to help capture a crazed former soldier turned hunter (Benicio Del Toro) who is going to rediculous lengths to preserve the wildlife of the Oregan greenlands. It is revealed that Del Toro has gone AWOL from his unit after being awarded the silver star for combat in Serbia, but he is haunted by flash backs of the mass slaughtering of woman and children by the military there and starts making human hunters his prey.
The film runs along the lines of Jones other movie "The Fugitive" and also reminded me of an old trapper movie set in Canada starring Charles Bronson called "Death Hunt"(1982) particularly with the snowy setting in the woodlands and the tracking element. What really surprised me about the movie was its relience on good old fashioned acting and tension rather than CGI and is type of thriller which I thought Hollywood had stopped making in these PC times. Jones is bearded and rather grizzled but is in excellent form especially in the fight scenes. No stunt double is required as he and Del Toro engage in martial arts battles and he is actually very fluent and uses a lot of blocking and grappling moves not to mention Kali fighting techniques. Another thing about the film is the hidden layers in the story where we can clearly see that Jones and Del Toro are both mirror images of each other and Jones feels guilty for having trained Del Toro as a killing machine and for not responding to his letters when he is scared that he is starting to crack up. This is revealed in a flash back sequence where Jones is shown training a unit (which includes Benicio) on the techniques of knife combat and shows the arteries of the arm, throat and legs to sever in order to disable an attacker.
The film contains a little gun play but the knife is the main weapon used (as you've probably guessed) throughout the film and also shows how make a custom knife from heated iron which the villain and tracker have to resort to before the final showdown. The film is remarkebly savage throughout especially during the final show down with the two stars and is unquestionably the bloodiest, most violent fight seen I've ever witnessed in a mainstream movie.
Another thing I liked about the movie is that Jones while playing it tough displays a certain amount of vulnerability and that there is also a sympathetic element to Del Toro's crazed character.
All in all a very entertaining and watchable film.
When is it released in the U.K?
... luved him in US Marshalls in that chicken costume 
... great "chicken legs" lol!
Steven is soooo sexxxy!
