Hunted [DVD] [2003] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Actions thrillers are my favourite films, but recently I have been getting more and more cheesed off with thrillers that promised much, but in the end were souless and unrewarding.
How lucky I was, then, when I found the Hunted!
This film sums up escapism for me. It is 90 minutes of pure and exhilarating entertainment. The viewer is plunged straight into the action, and from then on in it doesn't let up--as we see Tommy Lee Jones hunt down his man and occasionally engaging in what can only be described as jaw-dropping hand-to-hand combat.
Personally, I can think of no better way to unwind after a hard day than to watch two insanely tough and well trained men play a lethal game of cat and mouse.
The acting is solid, the set pieces deliver and you really root for both the hunter and the hunted--which is never a bad thing.
Go on, indulge yourself!

Benicio Del Toro stars here as Aaron Hallum, a trained Army killer seemingly severly distresed by his experiences in Kosovo. Four hunters have been killed in woodlands and Tommy Lee Jones' character, LT Bonham, a tracker extraordinaire, is called in to assist in the hunt. As the plot develops, we find out that Hallum had been trained by Bonham in the art of survival and knifecraft, and had come to regard him as a sort of father figure and mentor.

Most of the action takes place outdoors in beautiful scenery, be it in woodlands, snowfalls or on the edge of a river. The script is kind of hackneyed, and the roles are derivative, but Jones gives a good performance none the less. Del Toro is not in Oscar mode here, but does turn in a performance as a confused and dazed man.

The film lost coherence a bit when Del Toro is shown in a scenen forging his own knife, but the knife-fighting scenes have a gritty real feel to them. Overall it's not bad. It's just not great either.

Bought this for my dad who is a Tommy Lee Jones fan. I watched it with my dad and I have to say it has a good plot line and was really gritty as the knife scenes were quite realistic. When watching the movie my dad and myself were often making that ahhh sound people often make when the movie gets intense. The movie is a cross between U.S Marshalls and The Fugitive.

A good action movie with a mix of psy-situation (the ex-Special Forces killer becamed a serial killer and chased by his "ex-Jedi Master" instructor) with good action scenes, a very good cast (with Del Toro perfect for the role) and a intriguing plot, but a little confused. With a best director maybe a better movie.

There are not enough films that deal sympathetically with the impact of fighting in a war and being programmed to kill. This film raises the interesting point of what do we do with these people once they have been utilised to their full potential during War time? Having witnessed the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo at the start of the film, Benicio Del Toro carries out his mission with the swiftness and skill of one of our SAS elite. His courage is awarded with the Silver Star, but the nightmares of what he had to do and witness never leave him and he is seen waking up in the middle of the night screaming and that takes the viewer to the present day in the film.

Tommy Lee Jones is the man who taught Benicio and his fellow soldiers how to kill and how to survive. He is working as a conservator for the Wildlife Fund and in a touching scene early on in the film he rescues a wolf from a snare and appropriately deals with and humiliates the culprit responsible for it. I found his character quite relatable in that respect. His character appears very enigmatic and quite solitary in the film.

Someone (Del Torro) is butchering hunters and decapitating and disembowelling them. Tommy Lee Jones has to assist the authorities in hunting Del Torro down (although at this point it is not quite clear who is the hunter or the hunted).

As the film progresses and Del Toro is arrested it turns out that he employed by the American Government for top secret killing missions. This then builds up to an excellent high-octane finale.

There is quite alot of violence (as with most 15 rated action/horror films these days), but it is not excessive and it is relevant to the story and the theme of suffering (both mentally and physically)....

Del Torro just wants to return home to his family and put the past behind him, but this film deals with the tragedy that it can't happen that way, his fate has been sealed from the moment he was recruited for covert missions.

This film struck a chord with me because I know of people who have had to deal with the horror of war and the fact that afterwards they can never lead a normal life.

An underrated, poignant gem of a film. The acting from all involved is top grade. Read more ›

What a waste of two talented actors by the talented director of "The French Connection", William Friedkin, who's creative powers have clearly lessened to more generic chase fodder. Benicio Del Toro is the Special Forces operative trained in close quarters 'up close and personal' killing with a knife. You can't beat a bit of hands on work! He has been trained in killing and Bear Grylls like survival skills by his mentor Tommy Lee Jones. But alas Del Toro comes down with a serious case of post traumatic stress disorder after some messy work in Kosovo. This manifests itself when he takes on two deer hunters with high powered rifles armed only with a knife. Guess who wins? Guess who gets to try and track him down? Yup you guessed it! Jones expertise at tracking and his dexterity with a knife is put to serious testing.

Predictable and generic is an understatement for this one. It was always painfully obvious where the film was heading. Yup a big showdown between the teacher and his pupil. It is all ludicrously juvenile. The scenes of tracking in the inner city, where a lot of it took place, would have had the San bushmen of the Kalahari, who are the true masters of tracking, in gales of laughter. Bear Grylls and Ray Meares would have had a quiet chuckle at Del Toro's miraculous ability to forge a deadly knife in minutes. This bad guy can even climb to the top of a tower on a brige higher than the Severn and jump in without injury swimming the rapids like a fish to safety. This superhero ability stretches credulity to breaking point. The film throws in a feisty woman cop for a bit more generic emphasis. I could go on, but I really cant be bothered. If you like utterly predictable no brainers you may like this one. Otherwise strictly for Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro fans.