But then again, maybe you're 12. "The Hunted" is about Aaron Hallam, a military guy (Benico Del Toro) who's trained to kill - but wait! -  he can't stop his killing instinct.  It gets better -- he starts going after deer hunters!  So who do you call?  The guy who trained him to kill in the first place -- L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones).   So that's the plot.  The rest of it is just a male cat-fight. 

      Despite being a total rip off of that first Rambo film, I admit it manages to be somewhat entertaining. The knife fighting scenes are interesting; the death-defying waterfall leaps are dumbfounding; and the photography (by Caleb Deschanel) is pretty beautiful.  But the plot is stupid, and we've seen it before. 

      Don't get me wrong, all plots have already been done, it's always how-can-you-do-it-differently?  And therein lies the problem.  The filmmakers just don't understand the 'differently' part.  That's an understatement with this film.  I just couldn't see myself caring for any of the characters. They tried to tell us that Jones' character is afraid of heights, yet, when that inevitable situation occurs on a bridge, like whoa!, it passes so quickly that I couldn't care less about it. What's the point in making him throw up after getting off the chopper in the beginning, if it means jack squat later on? I guess it's for those people with vomit fetishes. 

      Another problem is the blood. I mean c'mon, if you're making a movie about knife fighting, realistic blood should be a pretty high priority. Sorry guys, I just understand all the red paint that was on Jones' face. The squirting blood was so-so (seemed too watery), and the rest was too bright a red. 

      But again, with all that said, I still wasn't really bored.  Caleb Deschanel's photography is perfect and it totally kept my eye on it.  He alone saved this movie from getting a big fat goose egg.

     -- James ( 1 out of 4 pops )

Talk about this film with other Popkorn Junkies

      Billy Ray ( 3 1/2 out of 4 pops )

      This is the best action flick I have seen in a long while.  Usually, with me, a film is either a good film or a good popkorn film.  This film, however, managed to accomplish both.  Director William Friedkin keeps us on the edge of our seats for most of the film, since almost all of the film is one long action sequence.  The fight scene between Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Torro at the end is superb and one of the best 'man to man' fight scenes I have ever seen.  Not to mention, the acting is top notch.  Benicio Del Torro, in his first film since he won an Oscar for "Traffic", proves that he still has it and was not just some fluke.  Tommy Lee Jones brings his usual level of talent to his role, which could have been much worse in the hands of another.  Basically, I thought this movie was pretty cool, and pretty fun to watch-- a little gorier than I had expected, but that was an added surprise.  Go see this film because it is rare when I find a GOOD action movie.   

      Matt ( 3 out of 4 pops )

      Judging from what I've seen, people either love or hate this movie.  I didn't love "The Hunted," but I liked it.  It's an intense, entertaining action flick that gets off to a moderately slow start, but once it picked up the pace, I was on the edge of my seat.  Tommy Lee Jones is never disappointing, as he adds depth and substance to any role he plays, and he was my main motivation for checking out this film in the first place.  But Benicio Del Toro also does a great job.  I've always known he was a talented actor, but it's been a long time since I've seen him in a movie, so in a way this was like a reminder of how great of an actor he is.  He makes a fully convincing psychopath, and his drooping eyes help give off that villainous, Robert Mitchum-esque quality.  I don't usually have this complaint, but I felt "The Hunted" ran too short.  Usually, my criticisms have to do with films running too long, but this time I left the theater with a "That's it?" feeling.  The climactic scene is bloody and savage, but it could've been more exciting.  Nothing goes beyond the predictable.  I'm not gonna say the movie deserved an NC-17 rating, but it's definitely a hard "R."  The violence is extremely graphic.  Maybe I'm a bit jaded after seeing thousands and thousands of violent movies, but usually when people tell me a movie's extremely violent, they're exaggerating.  "Reservoir Dogs" is regarded as extremely violent, but about the only violent scene is the famous ear-cutting moment, and we never actually see the ear being cut.  As far as "The Hunted" goes--there's no off-screen violence here.  William Friedkin REALLY pulled no punches!  There's a knife fight between Jones and Del Toro that includes major blood gushing.  So even I was a little disturbed by that.  Take it from a jaded movie-goer:  this is definitely not for the faint at heart!  Though I was overall impressed with the film, I felt it could've gone the extra mile and I did feel a little disappointed.  So don't enter with monster expectations, and you should have a good time.