Director: Daniel Nettheim
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, Frances O'Connor, Morgana Davies, Finn Woodlock
Rating: (M)
3 stars (out of5)
From the get-go, it's pretty obvious that The Hunter has been cobbled together from a half-hatched idea that has been padded with a little of the fantastical, and a whole lot of effort spent maximising Dafoe's participation.
A shadowy biotechnology company has devised a plan to market an unknown product based on finding the officially extinct Tasmanian tiger (thylacine). Reports have filtered out from a specific area in the Tasmanian wilderness to suggest that there might just be a whiff of truth to the idea that one of the enigmatic species is alive and well. Enter Martin David (Willem Dafoe), a hunter who is engaged to track the cagey marsupial and bring back tissue and organ samples.
Dividing his time between excursions into the lush scenery, and fending off abuse from suspicious locals, David becomes embroiled in the lives of a troubled mother (Frances O'Connor) and her two curious children.
Having prepared for the part by working with a bush survival expert, Dafoe is thoroughly engaging as a MacGyver-like mercenary who unwittingly gets caught up in a stoush between tree huggers and local rednecks.
Although The Hunter tries to remain faithful to Julia Leigh's 1999 novel on which it is based, it cries out for a sterner editorial hand. When one thinly developed subplot leaks into the next, the end result can only be unsatisfying.
Best thing: The awesome Tasmanian scenery.
Worst thing: The distracting and partially developed subplots.
See it with: A love of the great outdoors.
- By Mark Orton
