The most controversial movie of 2019 finally gets its 2020 release. Last August, a month away from the release of this movie President Donald Trump tweeted after a test screening of The Hunt and had a lot to say. In his tweet President Trump said “Liberal Hollywood is racist at the highest level and with great anger and hate!” after criticising these “elite” Hollywood producers he then went on to say, “The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence and they then try to blame others. They are the true racists and very bad for our country”. As well as that tweet from the president, around the time of the initial release of The Hunt there were mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton leaving 34 people dead. Universal then decided to push the release date to March and the film has finally made its way into movie theatres all over the world.

If you are familiar with the short story The Most Dangerous Game written by Richard Connell you’ll be familiar with the plot of this movie as it has elements of that as well as Animal Farm written by George Orwell. A group of strangers wake up in a forest, they are gagged and have no idea where they. What starts as a Hunger Games style story mixed with elements of The Purge quickly turns into a political story that shows the divide between liberals and conservatives. These “deplorables” soon realise they are being hunted and must find a way to survive. Soon after this opening scene, the film follows Crystal (Betty Gilpin) who realises there’s more going on than just The Hunt.

This movie has so many twists and turns and although at the surface it may seem like an action packed thriller it quickly turns into a social satire similar to Get Out but is aware of how “woke” it really is. The movie leans heavily into internet culture and how extremists on social media can be fed a breadcrumb of information without actually reading into anything or hearing the full story. Cancel culture is so problematic when it comes to the the actual dangerous game that is The Hunt in this movie and it becomes almost self-aware without breaking the fourth wall or going any deeper with the meaning. The division of class is an interesting theme in The Hunt as it shows how prejudice is conveyed on both sides, those of a higher class view the working class characters to be dumb “rednecks”. The working class do the same thing in that they view those of a higher class to be manipulative and evil. Betty Gilpin, who people will know from American Gods is phenomenal in this movie and really portrays Crystal always being one step ahead of those who are out to get her. Although the film has some amazing moments, the dialogue and the writing is questionable in that certain lines felt like they could be pulled right out of an 80s action movie but I feel this movie is trying to be a modern social satire with classic elements that don’t mix well together. In some way this movie is trying to be too “woke” and too political in its portrayal of this divide of liberals and conservatives. Craig Zobel really did a strong job with his directing style in that he didn’t give too much away with his visuals and how he moved the story along, it starts out like a jigsaw and as the movie goes on it gives us a clear picture into what this movie is trying to say.

Although The Hunt is an entertaining movie with strong performances from Betty Gilpin and Hillary Swank, it goes beyond the point of being topical portraying the divide of class and politics in America to being a self aware movie about “how woke is too woke?”. The movie will intrigue audiences with its plot and topical content but it may also divide audiences by being that little bit preachy with its message. Overall, The Hunt proved to be a pleasant surprise and will definitely get people talking.

Rating: 3.5/5