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© DSFC |
THE
HUNTED
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| BETTER THAN "BLUE CHIPS" | ||||||||||||
| by
pat What a great movie! I've always wondered what it would be like to make a movie entirely out of a treatment, instead of actually writing a script, and this bold experimental film does just that. Instead of developing a new treatment that could potentially be used for a full feature, the filmmakers went back and dug up the treatment for the original Rambo picture, "First Blood." They rearranged a few things, like making the ex-soldier a veteran of Kosovo rather than Viet Nam, and his mentor was never actually in the military, but an independent contractor tracker who teaches soldiers how to kill. I never knew trackers were such skilled killers, even if they themselves don't kill, but it was one of those joyful "learn something new every day" moments that makes the cinema such a wonderful thing! To flesh out the movie, they had to occasionally drop a little dialogue here and there. I've been to movies where people don't talk much, and it really isn't great. Like, you'd think "Quit talking and make with the Kung Fu and car chases," but seriously it needs to be there, because when you get to the Kung Fu or car chase you need to know who to root for so you don't say "Oooh!" when you should say "Yay!" Also, it helps make things important. Tommy Lee Jones is afraid of heights. He tells us this and then throws up, so it's true. This lets us know how tough he is, because he never lets it get to him. Whether he's casually reading in a helicopter, climbing a tiny ladder on a huge bridge, or falling off a cliff, this guy just doesn't let on. I'd crap my pants in his situations. Anyway, when they needed dialogue, they were lucky to have Mr. Lee Jones around, because he's been in like way many movies. He saw this one and thought back to other movies where he was hunting people down like "The Fugitive," "U.S. Marshals," and "Nate & Hayes," and so he could tell people what they should say. Like, hey they need to set up an area so they can find the bad guy, he says "Why don't you say 'We need to set up a perimeter, and contact the local authorities. This is a dangerous man.'" and they'd say, "Oh, that's good! Why don't you say it?" But he'd be like "Nah, go ahead. Been there, done that. I'm going to crawl around like an animal looking for clues." Man can this guy find clues! We can see what's what because it's right there in front of the camera, so even if you get bad seats you know what's the haps. TLJ can walk into the woods, look around, and see a single leaf out of place and say, "I trained this guy. Bad news, Honcho." He doesn't really say that, but it's implied. I mean, he can track this guy through the city, without twigs or leaves or anything. This is a guy that can make himself invisible when he's not plowing into cars or jumping onto trains. I wish I could be a good detective, but Batman makes it look so easy. He can sit there and study information and do stuff on the computer, instead of running around following every step, only a step behind. Profiling and anticipation is for the lazies. The action in the movie is totally wow. William Friedkin, the director, brought us the fast paced world of basketball in "Blue Chips," as well as evil trees in "The Guardian." So if I was going to make a fast pace action thing with a bad guy and trees around, my first instinct would be McG, because he's kinda cool, but then I'd go to Mr. Friedkin. He knows how to sell a scene. When somebody gets stabbed, tons of extra blood comes out so you know they were stabbed and not left thinking "Did he stab them?" Even if it isn't a bad stab, and they get up and can walk around like they weren't stabbed, we get the blood so we can see they're tough, but human too. Also, if it's a big stab, there's yellow floaty things in the blood. I don't know why. You should really see this movie because it's the kind of movie that makes you think. You think "Hey, I'm watching a movie, and there's a helicopter, and ooh, is that Tommy Lee Jones bouncing over a waterfall, or some crazy computer trick?" Then you eat some popcorn, maybe buttered with a lot of salt and a big cup of Mr. Pibb, who's like Dr. Pepper without the grad school, and think "Yummy." I like to think at movies. When I saw "Remains of the Day," I was thinking, "Man, this is boring. How did jim get laid watching this?" He did, too. Or was it "The Piano?" For those of you new to the site, you should take me way serious here. If I compare something to "Blue Chips," the movie has to be all that and a bag of Funyons. |
 NOT THE BEST YEARBOOK PHOTO  FIREBALL ISLAND: THE MOVIE  MR. JONES TAKES A LUNCH ORDER  LADY COP? WHAT AN IDEA!  WHERE'S DEL TORO? |
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