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The Hunted (2003 film)

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The Hunted
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Friedkin
Written by
  • David Griffiths
  • Peter Griffiths
  • Art Monterastelli
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyCaleb Deschanel
Edited byAugie Hess
Music byBrian Tyler
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • March 14, 2003 (2003-03-14) (United States)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$55 million
Box office$46.1 million[1]

The Hunted is a 2003 American action thriller film directed by William Friedkin. It stars Tommy Lee Jones as a retired civilian contractor and SOF Trainer, who is tasked with tracking down a former student of his played by Benicio del Toro who has gone rogue; Connie Nielsen also stars.

The film was released on March 14, 2003. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $46 million against its $55 million budget.

Plot

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U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Aaron Hallam, a former Delta Force operator, has spent much of his career performing covert assassinations and black operations for the U.S. government. He was awarded the Silver Star for his service in the Kosovo War but was traumatized by the atrocities he witnessed.

In Silver Falls State Park, Oregon, Hallam encounters two hunters and kills them. Meanwhile, L.T. Bonham, a former civilian survival and combat instructor, lives in a secluded cabin deep in British Columbia. L.T. is approached by the FBI, who asks him to help apprehend the perpetrator of the killings. Bonham agrees and joins the FBI task force led by Abby Durrell. Arriving at the crime scene, he proves that one man with a knife was responsible for the hunters’s deaths, not several men with hatchets as previously believed by the agents. L.T. convinces Abby to let him track the killer on his own, but she insists that he take an FBI radio.

Bonham discovers Hallam's personal effects in a small cave just before the assassin appears and recognizes him as one of his students. The latter asks the former why he never answered the letters he sent, but L.T. demands to know why Hallam killed those hunters. His protege explains that he believes the men were “sweepers” sent by the government to eliminate him. Bonham fails to talk Hallam into surrendering, and the two come to blows before Hallam is taken into custody.

During his interrogation, the FBI is then forced to hand Hallam over to JSOC operators led by Dale Hewitt, who arrives with a letter authorizing taking possession of the prisoner. Hewitt tells them that Hallam lost control during a post-Kosovo mission, killing numerous innocent civilians, and can’t stand trial because his military assignments are classified. While being transported, Hallam manages to kill the operatives and escape.

Abby, devastated and wanting revenge for her fallen colleagues, intends to deploy the full force of the FBI into the woods in search of Hallam. Bonham protests this, asserting that sending more agents after Hallam will only result in further bloodshed, and unsuccessfully argues that he is the only one who can stop the renegade soldier he trained.

Resurfacing up the river, Hallam crafts a knife out of reclaimed metal, as Bonham taught him. Meanwhile, L.T. crafts a knife out of stone and enters the wilderness alone to find Hallam. Bonham is caught by one of Hallam's traps and is thrown down a waterfall. He meets Hallam at the bottom, and they engage in hand-to-hand combat. The two sustain severe injuries, and L.T.’s knife is broken, but he gains the upper hand and stabs Hallam with his knife just as Abby and the FBI arrive. Bonham, mostly recovered, returns to his home in British Columbia. He starts to burn Hallam's letters, expressing his concerns over what he witnessed during his service.

Cast

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Production

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The film was partially filmed in and around Portland, Oregon and Silver Falls State Park.[citation needed] Portland scenes were filmed in Oxbow Park, the South Park Blocks, the Columbia Blvd Treatment Plant, and Tom McCall Waterfront Park.[2] The technical adviser for the film was Tom Brown Jr.,[3] an American outdoorsman and wilderness survival expert. The story is partially inspired by a real-life incident involving Brown,[citation needed] who was asked to track down a former pupil and Special Forces sergeant who had evaded capture by authorities. This story is told in Tom's book, Case Files Of The Tracker. Chapter 2 of this book, "My Frankenstein," describes Brown's tracking and fight with a former special operations veteran.[citation needed]

The hand-to-hand combat and knife fighting in the film featured Filipino Martial Arts. Thomas Kier and Rafael Kayanan of Sayoc Kali were brought in by Benicio del Toro.[4] They were credited as knife fight choreographers for the film.

Reception

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Box office

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The box office for the film was less than its reported production budget of $55 million.[5] The Hunted opened on March 14, 2003, at #3 in 2,516 theaters across North America and grossed $13.48 million during its opening weekend.[6] It went on to gross $34,244,097 in North America and $11,252,437 internationally markets for a worldwide total of $45,496,534.[5]

Buena Vista International handles the distribution in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and parts of Latin America.

Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International handles Finnish & Swedish theatrical distribution through its then distribution partner Nordisk Film.

In United Kingdom - Redbus Film Distribution handles distribution under the name Helkon SK. It was released on 6 June 2003 (despite being renamed to Redbus on 6 May 2003).

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 29% of 149 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "An all too familiar chase movie that's not worth the talents involved."[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.

Many reviewers noted striking similarities to First Blood, with which this film was unfavorably compared. Rolling Stone called it "Just a Rambo rehash."[9] While there was some praise for the cinematography and the action scenes, much criticism was directed at the thin plot and characterization, and the general implausibility. Rex Reed of the New York Observer called it a "Ludicrous, plotless, ho-hum tale of lurid confrontation."[citation needed] The UK magazine, Total Film said the film was "scarcely exciting to watch."[10]

However, the film also received praise from other high-profile critics, particularly for the fact it kept the special effects and stunts restrained. For example, Roger Ebert said, "We've seen so many fancy high-tech computer-assisted fight scenes in recent movies that we assume the fighters can fly. They live in a world of gravity-free speed-up. Not so with Friedkin's characters."[11] He reviewed the film on his own site and scored it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.[11] Time Out London was also positive saying, "Friedkin's lean, mean thriller shows itself more interested in process than context, subtlety and character development pared away in favour of headlong momentum and crunching set pieces."[12]

References

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  1. ^ The Hunted (2003). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  2. ^ "EXTRAS". The Oregonian. 2003-03-17. pp. C02.
  3. ^ Risen, Clay (2024-08-24). "Tom Brown Jr., World-Renowned Survivalist, Is Dead at 74". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 2024-08-27. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  4. ^ The Hunted. Sayoc Combat Choreography (2003-08-12). Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  5. ^ a b The Hunted at Box Office Mojo
  6. ^ Daily Box Office for The Hunted from Box Office Mojo
  7. ^ "The Hunted". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 6, 2023. Edit this at Wikidata
  8. ^ "The Hunted". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  9. ^ "The Hunted : Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 20, 2007.
  10. ^ Total Film – The Hunted
  11. ^ a b "The Hunted". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on May 27, 2005.
  12. ^ The Hunted Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London
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