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Thursday, April 5, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW
The Hunter
Connecting To The Self In The Wilderness

Willem Dafoe as Martin David in David Nettheim's drama "The Hunter", set in Tasmania.  Magnolia Pictures
    
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Thursday, April 5, 2012

"The Hunter" absorbs us in its atmosphere and the rituals of its main character Martin David (Willem Dafoe), a hired gun for a biochemical company called upon to kill the last known Tasmanian tiger of its species.  Based on Julia "Sleeping Beauty" Leigh's book, David Nettheim's beautiful, evocative drama sells numerous other characters very short indeed.  Some appear to arise from nowhere.  Others conveniently disappear, particularly in the second and third acts.

None of the film's shortcomings take away from the unmistakable: Mr. Dafoe gives a performance that is one of the ten best of his career as a loner who reconnects to humanity through the lone trek of hunting down an animal.  Clinical, quiet, precise and wary, Martin relaxes in a bathtub listening to the strains of opera.  Arias ring out as he balefully glares.  A sad, solitary presence uncomfortable with other humans, Martin demands to work alone to find the tiger.  He springs traps, and traps are set for him in return. 

The locals are resentful of Martin's presence, and his predecessor was killed trying to do what Martin is assigned to do.  Martin also has to bridge the gap between his loneliness and his sense of belonging in the human world.  He's a continual outcast and at times he doesn't seem to mind.  He performs at his best in these situations, and "The Hunter" is most riveting when Mr. Dafoe, in a wonderfully balanced bit of acting throughout, roams the Tasmanian forests, rifle in hand.  Sometimes he's predator, other times he's prey. 

Unlike the moody, decisive workaday all-business trade men in Michael Mann's films, Martin has a pulse and is capable of looking after a bereft family, though his procedurals aren't dissimilar.

In "The Hunter", a good though not great film, Mr. Nettheim conjures up a drama that is part action-adventure, mystery, character study, comedy and thriller.  The only aspect that works is the character study, executed with a tidiness and rigidity that are economical, spare and exacting.  Mr. Dafoe is the sole reason to see the film, and clue in to the awkwardness of much of the screenplay, which didn't seem to know where it wanted to go.

Mr. Dafoe is the right actor for this film -- his expressive eyes and unusual face perfectly mirror the vulnerability of the character he plays and the prey he seeks as well as the harsh realities of the wilderness and the surprises that lurk along the way.  Many scenes involve Mr. Dafoe saying very little.  I simply wish that the director had said more overall than he does with "The Hunter".

With: Frances O'Connor, Sam Neill, Morgana Davies, Sullivan Stapleton.

"The Hunter" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for language and brief violence.  The film's running time is one hour and 41 minutes.
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