The Hunting Party
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Directed by: Richard Shepard
Starring:
Richard Gere - Simon
Terrence Howard - Duck
Jesse Eisenberg - Benjamin
Diane Kruger - Mirjana
James Brolin - Franklin Harris
Dylan Baker - Chet
Writer and director Richard Shepard brought the surprisingly sharp and witty film The Matador in 2005 and he returns this year with another story of male-bonding-and-murder with The Hunting Party. However, it lacks some of The Matador’s bite so don’t expect anything as sharp or as funny as a line like “Not for all the teenage twat in Thailand,”
Opening with a title card telling us that only the most ridiculous events of the following story are true, The Hunting Party follows three journalists on a quest to interview and possibly capture a monstrous war criminal known as The Fox. Led by the washed-up-because-he-cared-too-much Simon (Richard Gere), our narrator Duck (Terrence Howard) and completely green Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg) try to track down The Fox through the aftermath of the Serbian-Bosnian war. As a journalist (and for myself, I use that term very loosely) I would love to say that I was flattered by the portrayal of our profession but these guys ain’t Woodward and Bernstein. They’re practically soldiers without guns and while I admire their bravado, I guess the honest aspects of journalism just weren’t “ridiculous” enough to make the cut.
Despite the entertaining performances of all three leads and Shepard’s occasionally sharp writing and direction, the film lacks the confidence of its lead characters. It refuses to dabble in ambiguity, instead bringing us to an ending that’s rushed and unsatisfying and too neatly tied up especially in the aftermath of a somewhat fucked-up story involving midget gangsters and crazy Serbians. The film doesn’t even trust the viewer the draw the connection between the failed hunt for war-criminals and the failed hunt for Osama Bin Laden.
The Hunting Party had the potential to be a smart adventure story but with faltering confidence and a condescending third act, the film’s a bit of a disappointment, even though Gere, Howard, and Eisenberg all turn in solid work of an occasionally serviceable script.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
8.28.07