Director: Richard Shepard
Writer: Richard Shepard (Screenplay) Scott Anderson (Article)
Starring: Terrence Howard, Richard Gere, James Brolin, Jesse Eisenberg
Plot: A young journalist, a seasoned cameraman and a discredited war correspondent embark on an unauthorized mission to find the No.1 war criminal in Bosnia. However, their extremely dangerous target decides to come after them.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Interesting Story
Story: The Hunting Party starts by introducing us to our extreme reporters Simon Hunt (Gere) and his cameraman Duck (Howard) who put themselves in the most extreme warzones risking their lives. In 1994 Bosnia Simon reaches his limits after seeing the slaughter of a small village. We watch how the two go very different directions Duck gets a promotion and Simon goes off the radar.
The war over in the year 2000 Duck returns with young intern Benjamin (Eisenberg) for a story when Duck gets a visit from Simon who is looking for the notorious war criminal known only as The Fox (Kerekes). The three go on the adventure to uncover the war criminal with their liaison Mirjana (Kruger) as they go for an interview which is also a plan to capture him and regain the fame and fortune Simon once had.
The Hunting Party is a loose look at what happened with a reporter trying to get his own personal revenge on a war criminal, I think that is the fair way to look at this one. The idea that reporters locate a war criminal works to an extent but the humor comes with how none of the military force seem to care about what is happened. The three have good chemistry which all helps with all the reaction to events. The down side for this film is that we just don’t seem to get pulled in enough for what happens with the story never believing what actually happened.
Actor Review
Richard Gere: Simon Hunt is a world renowned reporter that goes to all the warzones around the world collecting stories and awards. After he has a breakdown he goes under the radar before coming back into Duck’s life to finally capture the war criminal The Fox. Richard is good using his charm throughout the film.
Terrence Howard: Duck is the cameraman for Simon who went on all the stories, after Simon’s breakdown he gets the promotion and is enjoying the safer life, while returning to Bosnia for a story he has to team up with Simon one more time for the most extreme of all their adventures. Terrence is good in this role working well with Richard.
Jesse Eisenberg: Benjamin is the young intern who gets a chance to work with Duck in and Simon which will help with his much needed experience when it comes to getting into the world journalism. Jesse showed he was going to be a big star with this role.
Diane Kruger: Mirjana is a source in Bosnia she thinks the crew are CIA and tries to help them locate the Fox. Diane seems to only be in a few scenes and we don’t seem to see enough to give her fair criticism.
Support Cast: The Hunting Party has a supporting cast that includes all the different people that the crew really met on their adventure.
Director Review: Richard Shepard – Richard gives us a light hearted look at very real situation that was much darker.
Adventure: The Hunting Party puts our character on a dangerous explosive adventure.
Comedy: The Hunting Party is told in a comical tone throughout.
War: The Hunting Party leaves us looking at the aftermath of war and how people are still too scared to worry about what happened.
Settings: The Hunting Party takes us to the areas involved in the Bosnia civil war as we see the effects it has had on the country.
Special Effects: The Hunting Party uses good effects when need without turning to them.
Suggestion: The Hunting Party is one to try it isn’t the most exciting but it does what it needs to for basic storytelling. (Try It)
Best Part: Richard and Terrence have good chemistry.
Worst Part: Slightly slow and difficult to follow.
Funniest Scene: Indian UN guy.
Believability: Based on the real adventure I guess it is up to us to decide what we believe to be real.
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Budget: $25 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
Tagline: How can they find the world’s most wanted war criminal when the C.I.A. can’t? [by actually looking]
Overall: Fun look at how the media think the military characters are looking into war criminals
Rating
