The Hunting Party (2007)

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I am not familiar with the history of Serbia and neighboring countries but both the historic aspect and cinematic aspect seem to be poorly handled in this movie. Maybe the producer has some agenda here.Three people hunting for a dangerous criminal in a dangerous place. Without any planning whatsoever! Hunt's friend who has pretty much moved on suddenly decides to throw away his career and join Hunt in this wild goose chase! Not at all convincing. Very weak story. Also portraying Muslims of Bosnia as good folks and Serbians as bloodthirsty scums seems unfair. It's unlikely that in a war things could be so black and white.

War is no party. Not even a hunting one. Neither are consequences of war, or trying to make justice and catch war criminals. The Hunting Party written and directed by Richard Shephard whose Matador I have seen a few weeks ago (and liked much more) is good action entertainment, but if you know nothing about the Balkans and the Balkan wars and you rely on this movie in order to get an idea about the tragedies and atrocities that happened 20 years ago in that part of Europe, you can get a distorted image about the region and the history.Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) is a TV reporter who was once famous. While covering the war in Bosnia he had a nervous breakdown during a live coverage of the war atrocities, which cost him his job. A few years later he will be back in the country apparently healing from the wounds of war, trying together with his ex-cameraman (Terrence Howard) and the young apprentice in journalism (Jessee Eisenberg) who happens to be the son of one of the VPs of the TV network they used to work for, to find one of the most famous war criminals who escapes international justice, UN forces and all the spying agencies. No need to say, they will succeed in a few days where all the big fellows failed for years.Judged only as an action movie The Hunting Party is not a bad movie at all. Richard Shephard has a sure hand, and Richard Gere is more than credible in the role of the journalist whose life is turned upside down by war and becomes a war criminals hunter. He actually is the only character that has a motivation to do it in the script, why the other two get attracted into the mortal game is a mystery. There is a big problem with describing such a complex conflict as the Balkan wars through the simplistic simplistic perspective of an action movie, not only because the script takes parts on national lines, but also because many better films have already been made by Serbian, Croat, Bosnian directors about this complex conflict. Films with real dramas, true humans, good guys and villains, not vaudeville ones. In a tentative to distance the story from the action B-movies the heroes see on TV screens on a couple of instances Chuck Norris jumping out of the water to kill the bad guys in one of the flicks of the genre. Unfortunately, this is not enough. The Hunting Party is just by a bit better than the Chuck Norris movies.

To make a commercially viable film out of a far-from attractive scenario, this film has resorted to low-brow slightly comedic buddy-ism.The three stars, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg are so dissimilar, both as actors as in characters - Gere, the silver-haired fox is a drunken senior news reporter who seriously messed up live on air and now has a bounty to find and an axe to grind; Howard, who is black and was Gere's cameraman but since Gere's sacking has been promoted and now has a cushy job and a playing away gorgeous wife. And, the usually very watchable and enjoyable Eisenberg is now a mumbling nerd of a first-time abroad reporter, given the chance only as he's directly related to the vice-president of the TV company.This all sits at odds with the aftermath of the Serb-Croat war and jam- packed into the 100mins running time, is everything from Playboy James Bond, gritty action and soppily stringed pathos. Lots of shuttling back and fore along with the realistic tracking down of 'The Fox', a war criminal wanted by the U.N. These scenes are the sort that shout out for Jean Reno, gruff and mean, not laughably smug Gere and cowardly Eisenberg.Lots of serious issues are dealt with and even more discouraging are the end credits - the usual, serious warning about still-at-large war criminals and the disturbing facts and figures are followed immediately by a sort of Shrek-style comedic take out on what each of the characters then went on to do.To say that this dilutes the film's purpose is an understatement and the reason for my 5/10. For action fans, it's not a bad movie and those who just want to leave their brains in the pub, then it's got some mileage and is entertaining enough and would score 6 or even 7/10.

Three journalists embark on a mission to get an interview with one of the most wanted war criminal in Bosnia. In the process, they risk everything including their lives. In the beginning of this movie, there's a caption that comes on saying "Only the most ridiculous part of this story is true". On the surface this movie looks like it's about journalists going after their story, but it's a movie that makes you think about the true intent of the writer and the producer. Towards the end Duck makes a comment "People in power of this country doesn't want to find him.". This might sum up the entire scenario of this movie. It points to the fact that people in power really don't want to find these war criminals. They have their usefulness, and are not considered true enemy of the state, or at least low in priority. On the other hand, there seem to be other category of people who the government consider the true enemy of the state. These might be people who have the technical prowess to steal sensitive information from the government. Example maybe a guy who was caught in Africa using an anonymous cell phone. He was well in hiding, but the US government was able to capture him without much difficulty. It shows that there is technology, and man power if the government wishes to exercise their will. So this story is putting a big question mark on the "will" of the government despite their propaganda saying otherwise. Who's right ? It seems to be saying "You be the judge.".It's a nice movie with real intent behind it. Story and acting is also top notch. The movie will make your time worthwhile watching.