‘Hunted'(2022) Review – A Promising Premise Is Stale In Execution

Hunted AKA Hounded (2022)

Directed By: Tommy Boulding

Starring: Samantha Bond, Malachi Pullar-Latchman, James Lance

Plot Summary: A group of thieves break into a mansion with the aim to steal a priceless knife on behest of an antique dealer. However, it seems that this was merely a trap, and the gang are kidnapped and taken to a remote area. It seems that the robbers are now prey to be hunted for the posh owners twisted enjoyment.

On January 14, 1924, the short story, The Most Dangerous Game, was published in Collier’s Magazine. Almost one hundred years later, the impactful work of fiction has been reworked as both literal adaptations or in this case, a spiritual one on the big screen. There are a few reasons why this story has stayed in the zeitgeist for so many decades. It has often been used as an interesting way to talk about class differences and economic inequality. Films like Brian Trenchard-Smith’s, Turkey Shoot, and the more recent, Ready or Not, were very interesting ways to re-contextualize this classic text. Filmmakers are usually able take the root ideas of The Most Dangerous Game and make something engaging and thoughtful. 

Sadly, that just isn’t the case for Hunted also known as Hounded. Editor Tommy Boulding’s feature film debut is a dud, but it’s not without its merits. The biggest issue is how Boulding chooses to deliver his message. Instead of doing the hard work and finding a way to get the point across in a new and refreshing way, the filmmaker takes the lazy route. This means that the audience is hammered in the skull with the film’s class-warfare text. The writers high-fiving each other is practically audible with every blunted self-important line spouted. It’s not to suggest that the message isn’t important because it is, but the message is lost in translation. Much like Run Sweetheart Run, it takes the easy way out and never does the hard work in deconstructing its message in a meaningful way.

The world building is also very underwhelming. Again, the writers are not putting in the effort to fully realize this world and its internal logic. Despite that flaw, the characters for the most part are fleshed out nicely. The gang of thieves do get some room for backstories and motivations. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s at least some scrap of depth. The same cannot be said about the captors who are given the most stock copy-and-paste motivations. Again, the screenwriters are more focused on a lecture without ever doing a serious exploitation or subversion. This is just like any other film of this ilk which is very disappointing. Worse yet, there is a glimmer of a better movie lurking under its self-aggrandizing. 

For a feature film debut, it doesn’t feel like it was made by an amateur. Boulding takes a modest budget and makes a good looking and, for the most part, polished film. Helping this greatly is the use of natural locales which give the movie a bigger scope and feel. He also handles action scenes well, and it never appears that he is in over his head in terms of direction and keeping the wheels on track.

Hunted is not terrible, but it is just kind of meh. While I think the director is solid, it’s the material that really weighs the film down considerably. The movie never once does something that feels new and exciting. Ready or Not is a prime example of how a movie can take the premise of the upper class hunting the lower and execute it in a way that is innovative. Honestly, Hunted is a movie that you watch once and will almost certainly forget about. It’s all the more frustrating as the director does show promise given the material.

5/10