Taking aim at 'The Hunting Party'
I hear that Richard Roeper and HDnet's Robert Wilonsky gave rave reviews to "The Hunting Party," but I haven't actually seen the gushing. All I've spotted are the potshots taken by the Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
Hollywood Reporter: "As he did with his previous feature, 'The Matador,' writer-director Richard Shepard assembles all the elements for a dark suspense comedy only to lose his way in a surfeit of plot mechanics and unlikely behavior. There's a potentially funny political story in 'The Hunting Party' about war criminals that the United Nations, NATO and the U.S. all say they want to find but really don't. Unfortunately, Shepard's approach takes the movie into Jason Bourne territory and away from the black comedy he seemingly wants to make, making the film fall between the cracks in terms of boxoffice appeal . . . . Richard Gere and Terrence Howard make an excellent pair of conflict journalists who get off on the adrenaline rush of war zones." READ MORE
Variety: "Proceeding with the same tone of cynical world-weariness that proved a mixed blessing in his debut feature, 'The Matador,' writer-director Richard Shepard fictionalizes a real-life tale of journos recklessly tracking down a Bosnian war criminal in 'The Hunting Party.' Alternately glib, superficial and amusing, pic vainly attempts to absorb some degree of Serbian irony into a story that's unavoidably lessened by its privileged American vantage point. The war-can-be-fun mood may not go over well in the current climate . . . . To his credit, Gere has loads of fun with Simon, letting loose with some of the best acting of his career as a guy all too aware of his own mortality and the high-stakes gamble he's throwing himself into. Howard is considerably upstaged, and after his amusing intro, his Duck never quite passes the credibility test." READ MORE
(Photo: Weinstein Co.)
