In third quarter 2019, it was announced that Hollywood was coming out with a movie called “The Hunt,” in which wealthy Elites amused themselves by murdering those of us they considered Deplorables. Sort of equal parts “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Purge.” Our side of the current Great Political Divide was understandably outraged. It was then announced that the movie’s premier would be postponed, and the furor faded.
With the closing of the theaters due to the pandemic, “The Hunt” recently opened in streaming format, for a fee I’m told is about twenty bucks. Tip: You can rent it from Redbox for like $1.80.
I saw it. I’m not the least bit “triggered.” The movie turns out to be satire, folks. It’s funny as hell, and honestly, the Elites seem to get the worst of it.
The two factions are both led by strong female characters. Leader of the Deplorables is a practical blue-collar Southern gal named Crystal, played by Betty Gilpin. The dominant Elite is named Athena, played by the aptly named Hilary Swank, who turns out to be a hell of an athlete though perhaps with some aid from strategically placed stunt women. “Athena” is portrayed as a stereotype “rich bitch” right out of Central Casting, rich as in “has her own intercontinental private jet full of caviar and champagne with which to transport a dozen kidnap victims and her own murderous friends” rich.
“Crystal” is the least unlikeable character in the whole movie and is the undisputed star of the film. Spoiler alert: She ends up as the last combatant standing, and has the magical ability to conceal a quantity of spare 12 gauge shotgun shells in skin-tight clothing. She takes no crap from anybody: one character on her side is listed in the credits as “Shut the f*** Up Gary” because that’s how Crystal constantly addresses him.
I told my lovely bride about that. She replied, “Shut the f*** up, Mas.”
But she said it sweetly, so it helped me relate to the movie.
The lesson is, don’t get all worked up over stuff we’ve only been told about and haven’t seen yet. And if you know anyone who does, instead of telling him “Lighten up, Francis,” you can tell him, “STFU, Gary.”
Thanks for the heads up, Mas, and especially for the commentary from the EP – LOL!!
But your main point is very valid – don’t get all worked up until you know all the facts – the world would be a MUCH better place if everyone followed that advice! Course it wouldn’t be taken to heart by many – having any excuse to get all worked up, even to the point of riot, is a feature, not a bug.
I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard the case made that it can be seen as an advertisement for our side. Looked-at as a wish-fulfillment fantasy on the part of the Left, it shows their true attitude towards us ‘deplorables’, and how they’d treat us if they had their way.
When Superman came out I wanted to be Superman. I wanted to be a Jedi Knight. I wanted to be a Ghostbuster and an Avenger. Hollywierd used to make me feel good about being good.
Now I don’t know what Hollywierd wants me to feel anymore. Out of one side of their mouth they tell me all guns are bad and that we don’t need them but many of the films they make glorify violence, hatred, and death.
I guess when we live in a culture of death all they are really doing is supplying the demand. We believe what we see and do what we believe.
Well, I am off to the range with my full auto revolver with the 150 round clip and whisper silent sound suppression doohickie. I may even take out my 105mm AR99 with vibranium coated super bullets….
Good advice Mas, especially in these trouble times. I think everyone would benefit by “aiming before shooting”.
I saw it when it was briefly in theaters.
(Spoiler Alert)
My take was, Elites target deplorables who have ticked them off. Elites kidnap and kill deplorables.
But the leader elite, Athena, wasn’t competent enough to kidnap the deplorable she wanted, and instead got someone with almost the same name. That turned out to be a fatal error in victim selection.
Crystal was be neither elite nor deplorable. She was one of a great many people who don’t follow either side, but just don’t want to be messed with.
Best scene in the movie was the elite who dropped the magazine out of a semiauto pointed at him, and thought it was therefore unloaded.
If anyone ever needed a great example of ‘do as I say, not as I do’, just consider Hollywood or most politicians.
Or is there a difference between the two? Hmm….
“Strong female characters” may have to do with how ineffectual the male characters in this film seem in comparison to Crystal and Athena. I accidentally had the possible misfortune of joining a strong female character who is close to me (the one that I live with) in watching at least some of this wannabe dystopian classic. Said companion does not need any lessons in “holding her ground,” especially where my opinions are concerned. Nonetheless, we am going to watch the film again together and will no doubt discuss it at length. Furthermore, I am very curious what our friend Mary Beth R. might think about “The Hunt”. My personal feeling is that screen warfare like this should be balanced with scenes from actual Chicago hospital emergency rooms.
Watched the trailer. That’s all I need to see.
Just watched the movie Mas. You’re take on it was spot on. Hope you’re doing well. Ps: I just joined ACLDN and am enjoying watching the tapes. I bought and read In the Gravest Extreme the year you wrote it and have been a fan since then. All the best! SR
I loaned out two copies of “In Gravest Extreme” and never got them back.
I figured the guys who kept them probably needed them worse than I did…
I haven’t watched this movie yet but from some of the descriptions here, it reminds me of a film I’ve watched many times titled UNDER SIEGE where a vicious group of nasty terrorists lead by an evil character played by extremely liberal actor Tommy Lee Jones takes over a U.S. battleship to steal it’s nuclear tipped Tomahawk missiles.
Unfortunately for the bad guys, the ship’s head cook who escapes detection when the vessel is seized, is none than Steven Segal’s character, a highly decorated and skilled former Navy SEAL who wreaks havoc on the hapless terrorists, aided by a sexy Playboy playmate who was brought on the Iowa class battleship by the terrorists as a dancer for the skipper’s birthday party. For those of you who haven’t seen this movie, watch it, you’ll like it!
Warning!!! There is a brief nude scene with the voluptuous blonde dancer, so please avert or close your eyes when it comes on.
Hi Tom (and everybody),
Concerning that highly offensive “bursting out of a cake scene” in Under Siege, I’ve found it is easier to handle and less upsetting to see Erika Eleniak coming out of that cake topless by slowing the playback speed to 50%. 33% makes it even less offensive.
Best wishes,
John
Hi John:
I have the Playboy issue featuring Erika Eleniak and keep it handy to repel Moslem terrorists, who would be in big trouble with Allah if they looked at naked women or images of them, especially attractive ones. The effect on radical Islamic men is like flashing a silver cross in a vampire’s face. I find using the ‘pause’ button often during hot nude scenes with pretty women makes them less disturbing too. Thanks for the good advice.
Wonder where she hid those 12 gauge shotgun shells…
I suppose a quick check of the movie’s Motion Picture Association Rating would provide a good hint. 😀
Your whole article was good Mas; the last paragraph was GREAT.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but when I saw the trailers I was immediately reminded of the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick “Hard Target”. I definitely realized that the “hunted” were going to turn the tables on the “hunters”. So I’ve always been puzzled by the outrage over the film.
Good call. I forgot about HARD TARGET but did watch it when the movie came out in the theaters. The main bad guy was definitely a sporting type as he used a Thompson Center Contender with 14″ barrel and iron sights in .45-70 to hunt the Dutch Boy and the babe who later starred in the short lived TV series WITCHBLADE. Another movie with parallels to THE HUNT was RAMBO FIRST BLOOD. Rambo wasn’t targeted for a hunt, but the sheriff and locals had no idea who they were dealing with and thought he was just a drifter they could kick around. Jimmy Lile survival knives were in high demand after that movie came out.
You are right about needing all the facts to be in before making conclusions. Friday night an incident happened in my neighborhood. I will provide very few details in order to protect the guilty.
The incident involved darkness, and long, loud screaming. In my mind I went through all sorts of possibilities to determine; What’s going on? What do I do?. Eventually I was able to determine the conflict was verbal, not physical. I decided to TAKE NO ACTION. That turned out to be the right choice! Multiple police cars and an ambulance arrived, but were not needed.
It’s taken me many years to learn that sometimes the best thing to say is nothing, and sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Depends on the circumstances. Whew!
While fading in and out in front of the tube the other night, there was apparently an interview/discussion with one of the folks involved on the production/writing side of The Hunt. IIRC, he was explaining that the whole thing was intended as a parody and (since a lot those folks have intellectual pretensions) “intended to stimulate discussion between the two opposing views on firearms”. Uh, right.
I expect the “outrage” was the portrayal of the “elites” as capable of doing anything so tacky and lower class as personally dealing with deplorables in any way, shape or form.
Idgaf if it’s satire and deplorables win or not. This isn’t a good time for something like this. Kinda hard to “lighten up” when our country is in the shape it’s in. The division among Americans needs no encouragement, and it is not funny. I think it’s in poor taste, very poor taste.
@ Mas – “I told my lovely bride about that. She replied, ‘Shut the f*** up, Mas.’
But she said it sweetly, so it helped me relate to the movie.”
I guess this makes good the old Owen Wister quote (from his novel ‘The Virginian’):
“When you call me that, smile!”
You’re right, the movie was hilarious!
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