“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm

The Hunt was originally intended to come out in September 2019, but wound up being delayed until this weekend.  The controversy surrounding this movie was clear and the battle lines were drawn.  Lots of controversy and complaining from people who had never seen the movie.

After seeing The Hunt, I can understand why there are people who are polarized about it because it is very clearly a movie that is divisive.  However, I do not understand the anger directed at it since it is obviously a satire and both sides of the political world is lambasted equally.

A group of people from the “deplorables” are kidnapped by some “lefty elitists” and taken to a mysterious location.  They are drugged, gagged and scattered around.  Once they come to, they start being picked off, one by one.  Scattering, the group attempts to avoid the people hunting them.

The first act of this movie was extremely unexpected because as you meet a character that feels as if this was the main protagonist that you are meant to follow, something would happen that makes it clear that this was not the person we were meant to follow.  It’s shocking and it is funny.

Betty Gilpin from GLOW eventually is revealed as the main protagonist of the film and she is just amazing.  This is a star-making performance for her and she is unbelievably likable here.  This is even more impressive since there really is very little effort made to develop characters.  Most of the characters do not get past their surface structure. Betty Gilpin is no exception.  Her development is minimal, but that does not prevent her from being an awesome, kick-ass character.  The end shows that there may have been a reason for the lack of character here, and it may even be worth it.

The violence is vicious and gory.  Some of the kills are well designed and entertaining while others felt as if they were simply there for shock purposes.  I have seen more violent movies so this is not a disqualifying feature for me.

The movie does have a message, in particular, about social media and the nature of it, but the message is not pounded into your heads, although it is not necessarily subtle either.

This was a funny satire with some cool action involved.  Betty Gilpin is an early season leader for Kick Ass Female of the Year in what should be a competitive year in that category.  You may be offended by The Hunt, but, if, like me, you are not, then you will probably laugh and have some good time with an over-the-top movie.

4 stars