'The Hunter' A Review

'The Hunter' is a film about the Tasmanian tiger. Williem Dafoe is a hunter sent to Tanzania by a military biotech company in order to follow up on rumors of a siting of the presumed extinct Tasmanian Tiger. He lodges with a widow and her two children in between week long hunts for the tiger in the wilderness.

There are attempts at some kind of thrill or intrigue. The locals are all lumber workers, they don't like outsiders, the family Dafoe is staying with is part of an eco-protest in the area trying to shut the lumber company down. Dafoe gets close with the family and involves himself in the local unrest. At least that's what the movie implies but doesn't really pull off. It's not really clear whats going on and the 'closeness' of the family and Dafoe is so underdeveloped we don't really believe that he cares for them. Maybe we believe he cares for them but we don't know why. He has no reason to. We also don't know anything about the title character. He has no back story, no context.

The best parts of the movie are Dafoe in the wilderness hunting the tiger. We find out a little bit about the history of the tiger and its mystery. We find out a little bit about Dafoe- his skill, his affinity with the wild. That is what the movie is about but they make it too complicated. Or simply can't pull off a multi-layered plot.

The movie is engaging, I wasn't bored. It has the spark of something haunting and mysteries but it never starts the fire. You leave disappointed because you realize that somewhere in the confusion there could have been a great movie.

Rent It.