Hey folks, Harry here... Ol Billy Friedkin is up to it again. You might remember this film was delayed for awhile after Benicio Del Toro injured himself, throwing the production into some delays, but it seems that Friedkin has put together an early cut and took it to an audience to see what he could see. Oddly enough, I found myself in a conversation with Billy's old boss Robert Evans, talking about the decade of integrity in film. The seventies. Below Victor mentions a Bridge Scene as being spectacular in THE HUNTED - but I wonder if he's ever seen Friedkin's B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T remake of WAGES OF FEAR called SORCERER (somebody remaster and put out a great dvd with behind the scenes of the making of that bridge scene!)? (BTW - I named this spy, since he wanted me to protect him) If you saw THE HUNTED, I'd love to hear from you... as always - Anonymity is not an issue - Those NRG hounds will never pick up your scent here! Here's the oh so brief review...
Harry, if you use this, please keep me anonymous. I might have to get a job driving sweaty dynamite down some god forsaken jungle rot road from hell if you mess this up! My life is in your hands.
Now, I signed that thing saying I'm not to talk about this to any website, but I can't stop myself.
This was directed by William Friedkin, and when I got home and looked him up on IMDB, sure enough he was the man who introduced the film. He didn't identify himself or anything, just said "enjoy the movie". I liked that; one could expect a man of his stature to lord it over us but he didn't.
The movie has a ton of action and quite a bit of blood & violence. You can tell that they're still editing it; several scenes seemed a bit short, while others had a lot of extraneous shots (the deer hunting scene stands out for me). The story is good but also needs better exposition. Benicio del Toro's character seemed a bit underdeveloped. I wanted to understand better why he went nuts, but the movie in its present form didn't explain that enough for me.
Tommy Lee Jones has this role down pat, and puts in his usual fine performance. He can do these movies with his eyes closed!
The locations and scenes are breathtaking. The bridge scene is spectacular, and the chase out of the river as well.
I'm looking forward to seeing the release to see what has been polished on it. What I saw this evening is a 7/10, worth full price.
Victor 'Serrano' Manzon
