The Hunting Party

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 6, 2007

Richard Shepard’s The Hunting Party is smart, humorous, adrenaline fueled and one of the most creative films of the year. Most movies that try to have numerous thematic elements usually fail but The Hunting Party succeeds because it never falters away from being bold; it has the fortitude to take a creative idea and go all the way with it. This is a good follow up for Shepard after 2005’s mediocre The Matador because with one film he goes from overrated to respectable. Unlike The Matador, The Hunting Party is never boring, the characters and storyline are complex and multi-layered and the performances are as stout as Shepard’s vision is.

The Hunting Party is set in war-torn Bosnia in the mid 90’s. Turning in another outstanding performance for 2007 is Richard Gere (The Hoax) as Simon Hunt. Simon is an on-the-scene war reporter who has spent almost every day of his career fighting for his life but always manages to get in the best stories. His trusty companion and cameraman is Duck (Terrance Howard, The Brave One) which is a nickname because he has to do a lot of ducking to avoid getting shot. The opening sequence with the two dodging explosions and bullets just to get some footage is exciting and visually affecting.

So one day Simon has had it and he snaps on live television resulting in his dismissal from that network. This breaks Simon and Duck apart. Simon becomes a free lance war reporter, selling his footage to anyone willing to buy it. Duck on the other hand gets promoted to become lead camera man in a New York news studio. Several years later Duck returns to Bosnia with his boss and new prot©g© Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg, 2005’s The Squid and the Whale) after a peace treaty has been signed. Who does he run into but none other than Simon himself who claims he has a big story. Simon says he knows the location of the most sought after war criminal in Bosnia, a Serbian known as “The Fox,” who is responsible for raping and killing thousands of Muslims. Taking Simon at his word, Duck and Benjamin follow him into the belly of the beast to score the interview of a lifetime.

The Hunting Party is based on an article written by five journalist like Simon who got drunk and decided to go looking for a war criminal. The fact that the whole movie plays as a farfetched adventurous fantasy is simultaneously The Hunting Party’s biggest strength and it’s biggest weakness. It needs to be bold but it tests the outer limits of believability. The movie playing itself off as a tall-tale, so to speak, can only go so far, but Shepard and Co. do everything they can with what they have to work with. The reason it works so well is that it’s so damn entertaining. Richard Gere himself says it best “I don’t know what we’ve got ourselves into but I love it.” The story is endlessly engaging and much more complex and deeper than it is on the official trailer. There is a terrific and emotionally affecting subplot involving Simon, the Fox and his ex-girlfriend and the fact that Simon might be on a quest for revenge instead of looking to score an interview.

The Hunting Party is multi-thematic and works extremely well on each level. As a comedy there are plenty of laughs to be found, especially in the end credits with one of the most unique character explanations you’ll ever see. This sequence explains what was really true and does it in such a neat fashion. Each character (Simon, Duck, and Benjamin) finds themselves in some situations that are humorous and some that are dramatic and Shepard and the actors know which is which. There is a hilarious scene with the three talking to a UN officer named Boris (Mark Ivanir, 2006’s The Good Shepherd) who concludes that they are a team of CIA operatives because no group of reporters would be dumb enough to be doing what they’re doing. Benjamin says to Boris “I’m sorry, are you still insinuating that we’re a CIA hit squad.” Without missing a beat, Boris replies “I’m sorry, are you still insinuating that you’re journalists?” Dramatically, Shepard explores Simon’s past that is the whole reason for this adventure and, like he did in “The Matador,” he explores the bondage formed between these men in a dangerous time in their lives. Politically the film stands on a neutral ground until the final act when it depicts the UN and CIA as lazy agencies that don’t seem to care anything about catching war criminals.

The performances here are good across the board from Gere to a cameo appearance by Diane Kruger (2004’s National Treasure). There may be no other actor that can play a liar better than Gere. All though they are two completely different movies, Gere’s characters in The Hunting Party and “The Hoax” are quite similar. They are men who get wrapped up in a situation way over their heads and yet they are so convincing in believing they will get out of their predicaments. Gere also does a fantastic job portraying a lost soul with a dark past in which he has loved and lost and has truly seen the horrors of war. Terrance Howard, following up his terrific performance in the Brave One, is the narrator as Duck. Duck is a guy who sort of wants to get away from war reporting, but he tells you right from the beginning he’s addicted to it and when Simon asks him to come on this expedition, Duck hardly hesitates. Gere and Howard show great chemistry working together here and they feed off of each other. Jesse Eisenberg as Benjamin is a nice third party addition that certainly isn’t wasted and really provides the majority of the one-liners.

Richard Shephard’s directorial effort stands above all else. It’s already difficult enough to make a multi-thematic film but setting one in war time is even more complicated. He does a fine job making everything work here. His script is witty and filled with great dialogue. The story is for the most part fast paced but things slow down and go into detail when necessary. The editing is well executed especially in the most brutal scenes. The same goes for the production design and The Hunting Party is one of the best examples of the year in that department. One minor flaw to the film is the soundtrack which is an unsettling mix between contemporary rock music and the original score orchestrated by Rolfe Kent.

September was a month filled with potential Oscar caliber films. Although The Hunting Party revolves around a war, it’s not really a war drama out to win Oscars. It’s kind of the polar opposite of In the Valley of Elah in which Paul Haggis seemed obsessed with winning another golden statue. Shepard’s The Hunting Party, on the other hand, is a movie by the standards of being a highly entertaining and engrossing experience at the theater.

Read more articles by Nathan Deen