The Hunt (2020) - Delightfully gory satire

This film caused all sorts of 'outrage' when it was first released.  Or rather when it was supposed to be released.  It's narrative about 'woke liberals' kidnapping and hunting 'right-wing rednecks' was (inexplicitly!) linked to some real life tragic events and subsequently pushed back for theatrical release. Then, when it did come out, both sides of the political spectrum seemed to think it was an outright attack on them.

I think that whoever watched it and slagged it off just didn't have much of a sense of humour.  Yes, it pokes fun at certain modern political philosophies/ideologies, but - most importantly - it mocks both sides - like all the best satires do.

It hits the ground running and, unlike many modern day films, we're thrown straight into the action - which revolves around gore and bloodthirsty killings.  However, some of the most fun found here is how it 'subverts expectations' and takes more than a few false turns and does a great job at 'faking out' the audience (it got me every time!).

There's plenty of snappy satirical dialogue and the gore appears to be - for the main part - all practical effects, as opposed to the overuse of computer generated effects.  

If you've seen Hilary Swank's name linked to the marketing, don't expect her to be in it much - she's only really in the last act, but she seems to be enjoying herself with what's expected of her.

I think if I had one criticism of the film it's regarding it's final fight - for a film that mainly was quite 'realistic' in terms of what the human body can take (and what it takes to kill a human) the last battle felt like it was lifted out of a Marvel superhero film.  I think I've seen Terminators take less punishment and go down compared to the combatants here!

Anyway, that's a minor gripe.  The rest was just about as perfect as a satire filled with black comedy and gore could be.  Just don't take it too seriously and you'll have a good time.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one