The Hunter: Blu Ray Review

The Hunter: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Entertainment

Based on the 1999 novel by Julia Leigh, Willem Dafoe stars with our very own Sam Neill.

Dafoe is mercenary Martin, who's sent to Australia to try and track down a Tasmanian Tiger by a shadowy company. Believed extinct for years, there's a possibility one exists in the wilds after a couple of sightings and this biotech company, Red Leaf, is determined to get their hands on it.

However, when he heads to Aussie, he ends up lodging with a woman and her two children - unbeknownst to him, her partner was also tracking the tiger and went missing months ago.

Gradually, Martin starts to bond with the family and adopt a slightly more open approach to life - but the company who sent him over are desperate to get results and will stop at nothing to ensure success.

The Hunter is a revelation; an underplayed, slow burning, beautifully shot piece of cinema, it's a thoroughly engrossing watch. From Dafoe's gradual defrosting to the Sam Neill's guilty menace, it's just well put together fare that takes all the time it needs to tell a good story.

Of course, it helps that the cinematography is so lushly put on screen as Martin ends out in the wilderness - and there's a real emotional pull to the ending of this eco thriller which is hard to deny.

Extras: Commentary and scenes

Rating: