This article is about the 2003 film; for other uses see
The Hunted.
The Hunted is a 2003 film directed by William Friedkin and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro. Brian Tyler composed the film's score.
Plot
In the Pacific Northwest wilderness, two hunters (who are implied to be "sweepers") are viciously murdered by Aaron Hallum, a former 1st SFOD-D operator (Benicio del Toro). In the wilderness of British Columbia, L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones), a former special operations instructor, is approached and asked to apprehend Hallum, his former student who has gone renegade after suffering severe battle stress from his time in Kosovo.
Bonham is assisted by an FBI task force, led by a special agent-in-charge Abby Durrell (Connie Nielsen). Despite the continuing efforts of the FBI and local authorities, the search begins and ends as a personal battle between Bonham and Hallum.
Production
The film was partially filmed in and around Portland, Oregon and Silver Falls State Park. The technical adviser for the film was Tom Brown, Jr., an American outdoorsman and wilderness survival expert. The story is partially inspired by a real-life incident involving Brown, 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.
Reaction
The overall critical reaction to the movie was negative. It scored a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of 140 reviews. Many reviewers noted striking similarities to Rambo. Rolling Stone calling it "Just a Rambo rehash,"[2] while Rex Reed of the New York Observer called it a "Ludicrous, plotless, ho-hum tale of lurid confrontation."[3] The UK magazine, Total Film said the film was "scarcely exciting to watch."[4]
A minority of reviewers praised the film, 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 Friedkin's characters."[5] Time Out London took a similar view.[6]
What the narrator, Johnny Cash, says at the beginning is the first stanza of the Bob Dylan song "Highway 61 Revisited." A short reprise of the stanza is also said as the last lines of the movie. The song is also included in the soundtrack, but in a Johnny Cash version.
Box office
The film was not a financial success by most standards,acquiring only $45m back from its $55m budget. The Hunted opened on March 14, 2003 at #3 in 2,516 theaters across North America and grossed 2,516 theaters in the opening weekend. It went on to gross $34,244,097 domestically and $11,252,437 from foreign markets for a worldwide total of $45,496,534. The budget,however, was $55million.[7]
References
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