Reviewed by EWAN MCDONALD
Herald rating: * * *
L. T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones) is a civilian who trains the US Army's elite forces to stalk, track, hunt and kill. One of his students, Aaron Hallam (Benicio Del Toro), fought in Kosovo and was warped by his experiences.
Back home in Oregon,
a radical defender of animal rights who is offended by hunters using telescopic sights, Hallam kills four "sportsmen". Bonham recognises his trademarks and goes after him.
William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA) revisits a favourite movie form, the chase. So, you could say after The Fugitive series, does Tommy Lee Jones.
But this is not a big, dumb, action-man movie. Though there are other characters, other relationships in play, it is a claustrophobically tight exercise in two men running, hiding from and stalking each other, through forests and streets, highways and bridges. Recommended.
DVD features: movie (94min); commentary by Friedkin; features -- Pursuing The Hunted; Tom Brown, Survivalist; Filming The Hunted (production); Tracking The Hunted (hunter skills); The Cutting Edge (stunts); 6 deleted scenes; trailers.
