As this film opens people are having an online text conversation about hunting 'deplorables' at The Manor. In the next scene a luxury jet is transporting a group of very wealthy individuals, who display all the cliché liberal values. They are interrupted by an incoherent man who clearly isn't from the same stratum of society... he has woken to early and is killed! We then see individuals, all gagged waking up in the countryside. They are given a crate full of weapons then come under attack; several are soon dead. A handful manage to escape to a gas station where they are told they are in Arkansas; this comes as a surprise as they are from all over the US. Not surprisingly the hunt is far from over. For most of the film we stick with Crystal May Creasey, a former marine, who is determined to survive and turn the tables on the attackers.

I thought this was a lot of fun. There was the excitement and tension one expects from 'man hunt' films. Having liberals, who would normally deplore any type of hunting, trying to kill those they consider deplorable right wingers was an hilarious twist... something set up to offend more sensitive types across the political spectrum. The action is quite gory but in an over the top way that is likely to cause laughter rather than terror. It is also nicely varied with shooting, spike-traps, explosions even bow and arrows. The action doesn't stop for long but when it does it is still fun; a highlight being when Crystal tells another character a delightfully twisted version of the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The cast is solid; in particular Betty Gilpin as Crystal and Hilary Swank as hunt organiser Athena Stone. While I know not everybody will enjoy this I'd still recommend it to those who enjoy the genre.

If there's one horror/thriller premise that already got turned into plenty of movies, it's the "hunting humans for fun/sports" idea. There are far too many titles to list, but some of my personal favorites include the 1932 original "The Most Dangerous Game", but also "Blood Camp Thatcher", "Deadly Prey", "The Woman Hunt" and "Surviving the Game". There's always room for anther favorite, though. In fact, there's even room for another twenty favorites, as long as they deliver suspense, gore, fresh & inventive killings and insane characters. Craig Zobel's "The Hunt" is definitely a new favorite!

This film's strongest assets are the eccentric but strong female lead, versus the overall "worthlessness" of the rest of the characters. By this I mean that literally everyone can die at any given moment - and many of them will - regardless of how significant or insignificant their roles have been up until then. I love that. The strong female lead speaks for itself. The woman is quite petrifying, unpredictable, not very eloquent, nihilistic, and deadlier than a whole army of vengeful liberal democrats with guns. She's also quite weird, since she shamelessly pees in front of people and narrates disturbing variants of classic children's stories.

Admittedly, I found the political "satire" very exaggerated and far over the top. Many taboo subjects, like refugees and the free possession of firearms, are inevitably included and the views of both "obnoxious" democrats and "imbecilic" republicans are shoved down our throats, only to conclude that all extremist opinions are deplorable. Yeah, fine, please blow away some more people Mrs. Gilpin! The obvious thing to enjoy here is the extreme violence, the gore and Betty's stoic face.

A familiar but efficient action comedy with an extremely brisk pacing and some good satire aimed squarely at American politics. There's an anything goes policy here with every political position a target and that makes for good humour, at least as far as I'm concerned. It's noticeably violent, kicking off with lots of shock deaths and scenes, before turning into a female-led revenge thriller towards the climax. Aside from Hilary Swank, most of the cast are unknown but they do a pretty good job here. It's not an amazing film but it did entertain me throughout.