The Hunter (2012)

Films about professional assassins always make me feel uneasy, because I've found their fictional representations in mainstream movies less than impressive. I find it hard to imagine them mixing so easily in ordinary society and my guess is, for any so called 'well adjusted' person, any involvement with a person like this would be firstly psychologically dangerous. But I could be wrong, because not unsurprisingly, I haven't knowingly had contact with any of them . But this film somehow worked for me, and it did so by bringing to the fore, some tricky moral issues that affect us all. These issues helped bring about (and also made me 'accept') the moral redemption of this particular assassin. All those unexpected plot developments I realised were all carefully constructing a path to a believable redemption scenario for the central character. And usefully as well, they broke up that tiresome feeling of over familiarity you get with most movie scenarios these days So now to the crux of this review, because I wish to address all of those people who didn't believe this movie had an end. The film did have an ending and it was a good one, if you were watching carefully. So let me explain what I believe happened in that assassination moment.- He was in fear for his life, so he decides to get the job done and kill the tiger. But he is already in the throes of an existential crisis and when faced with the tiger (importantly a CGI one) in his sights, he can't bring himself to do it. But he steadies himself and has another go and because it's a CGI tiger, we then witness a subtle body language thing passing between the two of them. The tiger just stands there 'waiting' (perhaps) to be killed and again the assassin doesn't shoot. Then the tiger's shoulders drop in a clearly human expression of depressed resignation, and it is at that moment that the assassin shoots. He did it I believe, as an act of kindness to put this poor creature's (Who's supposed to be the last of it's kind) lonely and pointless existence out of its misery. This animal's existence symbolically resonated with the assassin, because that's how he had began to feel about his own purposeless life which was just existing on the margins of society. All the incidents in the film had been leading up to this moment and had stirred up feelings for all his fellow living beings. For the first time, probably in a long time he does a clearly moral thing. He destroys the tiger so nobody can use it's toxin as a weapon, but which puts his life in jeopardy and then goes off to become a surrogate father for the orphaned boy. He is quitting the assassination business and rejoining the human race. The end of this film was where this film always knew it was going, and for me, gave me that satisfying emotional pay-off that you want from a mainstream movie.

I've been waiting for a long time a opportunity to see this movie,firstly on DVD and next an expensive Blu-ray,neither came along...now on Netflix finally l saw so waited picture...and how good it was...a quiet movie, letting the Tasmanian landscape speak for itself.....Willem Dafoe in unusual leading role play the Hunter who has a hard mission to track down a legend of the Tasmanian Tiger ( that no longer exist, already state as extinct race ) but which the real proposition of the movies anyway??? let's dream...so he finally find a Tiger (that is actually is a wolf relative) and has a unexpected redemption at last...even l don't agree with so sad conclusion the movie is really great!!! Resume:First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: Netflix / Rating: 8.5

No..., not a love story but rather a nature story. Brokeback Mountain holds the best nature filming by far. I wasn't interested in neither story but I love the nature scenes of both these films. The story could have been different like a hunter following a lost friend's will to find this extinct animal and perhaps ending the film with photography evidence. Killing something doesn't work. The film could have used a little more action. Did the hunter kill seals, polar bears or any type of marine animals? Always think of a possible sequel to a story; therefore you'll have a great film to begin with. Has the hunter ever killed a man before? He seems to have no regret for killing his hostage taker. The end seems like the hunter tossed in the towel on hunting.

The Hunter is a thoughtful yet tense thriller that seamlessly comes together. It's well developed plot quietly builds, entangling local town politics with a rapacious corporation hellbent on finding the thought-to- be-extinct Tasmanian Tiger; caught in the middle is Martin David, the Hunter.After just thirty minutes of the film, I was already adding Tasmania to my mental, "places I want to go before I die", list. Filmed against a series of amazing Tasmanian backdrops, the scenery on show in the Hunter is certainly beautiful, with a haunting soundtrack to match. Excellent writing and directing, teamed with all-round solid performances from the cast, allow you to truly feel involved with the characters in a somewhat surprisingly emotional story-line.I highly Recommend.