The Hunting Party Poster

The Hunting Party (2007)

Adventure | Drama | Thriller
Rayting:   6.8/10 24.7K votes
Country: USA | Croatia
Language: English | Serbo-Croatian
Release date: 3 April 2008

A young journalist, a seasoned cameraman and a discredited war correspondent embark on an unauthorized mission to find the No.1 war criminal in Bosnia. However, their extremely dangerous target decides to come after them.

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Glifada 23 January 2009

I am really disappointed with the result of what could have been a good, interesting and decent movie. At first glance, 'The Hunting Party' resembles a low budget movie (a cheap hodgepodge as the result of a naive and unconvincing plot), but then you clearly realize it is a poisoning political pamphlet which promotes the need for and justification of revenge: if the alleged war criminal cannot be caught by officials (NATO, CIA, local police etc.) and prosecuted he must somehow be kidnapped and delivered by the three brave and righteous American journalists (sic!): not to the legal forces (the journalists decided to lose a fairly high remuneration of 5 mil. $), but directly to the furious victims because, as the movie suggests, lynch law is the only justice for some people. Blood for blood, that is what promotes this movie in 2007! And, when the victims (Bosnian Moslems) get their most wanted enemy (we see what they are about to do with him), the story can end up with nice, nostalgic and peacefull tunes of a typical Bosnian folk song, sevdalinka. I read all the comments posted here and am not fully agreed with all of you who judged the movie as wasting of time. In fact, we have something worse here - a very good example of crooked and professionally unscrupulous film-making covered up by several high-sounding names such as Richard Gere. I only feel sorry for him: this movie is not only well below his acting standards but hopefully below his professional and personal ethics! It is enigma for me (is it indeed?) why he had taken the role at all?

phantomtristan 28 September 2007

Fmovies: The Hunting Party is a cold, disjointed film that seems to be hunting desperately for a genre to fit into.

The Hunting Party is based on a true story about three journalists (played by Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, and ) who go on a mission to interview and capture one of the most wanted war criminals in the world—the Fox. True story films usually seem to command a degree of respect, because as we watch it we know some or all of it happened to a certain degree. Despite opening with the line "Only the most ridiculous parts of this movie are true." I could not respect this film.

There were so many problems on so many levels I was left dumbfounded. The characters are underdeveloped, distant and impossible to relate to. The decisions they make seem almost trying to make us dislike them. The pacing and flow of the film was disorganized, chopped-up, and confusing. The entire film seemed to be random scenes of a true story tacked together to produce a story and Terrence Howard's calming narration added to the beginning and end to smooth it out and connect it. It seemed like it was trying to be an intense thriller, a true story about impossible odds, as well as a melodrama of two men who worked together and their experiences.

Unfortunately Gere's and Howard's talented performances were wasted in this messy mechanical, melodramatic film. I love true stories, but not all true stories were meant to be turned into films.

big_novak 11 September 2007

This film is of the worst types of Hollywood films, historical enactments that trivialize tragic events by glossing over the human element while barely paying lip-service to the dead and loosely tying together history and hearsay with clichéd dialog and the worn-out conventions of cheap action-thrillers. It's no wonder MGM tried to burn-off this stinker at the end of the summer movie season, long before the more vital Holiday box office. I saw this in limited release in LA... at $12, it was a rip-off.

Terrence Howard is mediocre at best. He lacks both the charisma and power to carry this film, which is awkwardly patched together with his clumsy and lifeless narration. Jesse Eisenberg is awful. It's clear he either got this role by pulling a fortune from a Cracker Jack box or by being the nephew of an important Hollywood producer. This possibility is only more pathetic considering his character is exactly that: a greenhorn thrust into the action by an overbearing father high-up in the network he works for. His incessant blinking, acting through his eyes and pour delivery made me want to laugh. Richard Gere's performance is uneven and his character never appears quite as conflicted as the script would have you believe.

Which brings us to the heart of this piece of Hollywood clap, the pathetic excuse for a script by Richard Shepard, whose most notable work before this was directing for Ugly Betty and Criminal Minds. The pacing is awful. The film doesn't truly start for over an hour, yet the most climatic scene of the whole film is setup and over in 45 seconds. No build-up, no tension. Throughout the painfully slow first 60 minutes there are numerous clunky scenes of ugly exposition that are forced down the viewer's throat like so many pieces of un-masticated, Americanized, overcooked and soggy hot dog. I was almost sickened as the clichés rolled in one after another... Bar scenes where buddies pour drinks of the local liquor that is said (more than once, by the SAME character) to bring the Devil himself to the table... Dark characters in clandestine meetings striking a match to light a cigarette and illuminate their distrustful visage... Evil faces emerging from behind dirty plastic sheets hanging in dank basements... Triumphant characters telling bad guys, "You're going down, mother-f***er!"... CIA characters being more than happy to offer lectures about the "gray areas" their organization is forced to work in... Car chases on dark rainy nights... Long shots of foreboding looks from local villagers... Flashback after flashback of the same scenes of lust and libations with lost loves. Easily the worst of these unnecessary flashbacks was a single line of dialog that was spoken by a character barely 20 minutes before. I literally asked the film - out loud - "Do you really think I'm so stupid that I needed to hear that line again?" It's sad to see such a good idea for a compelling story completely destroyed by an inexperienced, untalented writer/director with too much power.

Even if you can ignore all the cheap Hollywood tactics used to manufacture conflict, the script is riddled with so many other problems, it's impossible to become engaged long enough to enjoy anything... Long exposition scenes that could have been summarized in one line... Horribly out-of-character dialog... Completely superfluous girlfriend characters vacationing in Greece... Manipulative scenes that are so convenient in the placement of characters and timing that they are com

tzar64 18 January 2008

The Hunting Party fmovies. I just saw this movie and I had to post a comment. Not because it is such a shallow movie but because its rating is 7.3 so far. First of all, the story. It is based on true events but is very far from it. Im not saying that because I'm from Serbia, but because you cant make a movie regarding something serious like a war without researching all the facts. For Hollywood directors it is always simple - the good and the bad. In the 80's the Russians were the enemies, then the Arabs and now the Serbs. I'm not defending any side in any war, but there are always two sides and there are good and bad people on both of them. That's why movies like this offend entire nations (last year '300' was really offensive towards Persian and Iran culture). I respect all the people in the US, but the truth is that most of them get their knowledge of unknown countries through movies and movies like this are teaching them lies. I don't like movies where Arabs are terrorists, and Vietnamese are evil and all Germans are blond and nazzies. I know movies are fun but they also have educational character. That's why I'm surprised with such a high rating. If you want to see a movie much closer to the truth watch 'Savior' with Dennis Quaid or Schindler's List. I just don't understand why Richard Gere and Terrence Howard were involved in such a B production movie (it closer to the F production), but Gere was well aware what kind of movie is this because he didn't want to come to Belgrade premiere (he went to other cities around). To bad there is no 0 as rating because this doesn't deserve this 1.

fangomatic 7 January 2009

It gets more and more disturbing as Hollywood masters the art of propaganda, calling onto seasoned actors and putting all the effort into making it work. As we all know there are at least two sides to every conflict and this movie's best is only a formal hint at that. Countless WW2 movies have finally shown us that a war movie should never portray the matter in black and white. To rip a piece out of the never-ending Balkan tragedy and to present it so blindly and preposterously cannot serve any other goal than political. Put against the recent "liberation" of Serbian Kosovo with joint Alban-NATO (as in: US-backed) efforts the movie looks even more frustrating, as we now have the motive: if you liked this movie then the next time you hear the word "Serbian" you _might_ get an eye twitch and the next time an American president (*doh* the UN, the UN of course) decides to slice up a foreign country called Serbia for the good of "democracy" or whatever you _might_ notice a righteous grin on your face. Peculiarly, in "The Hunting Party" the Serbska Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is even misspoken as Serbia once.

Oh and by the way, Kosovo now hosts the largest US military base in Europe.

PS: War criminals aren't just those with the "kalashnikov" in their hand, shooting and raping women. Sometimes a signature is as bad as that.

jaredmobarak 8 January 2008

Based on an article that was published in Esquire, The Hunting Party tells the story of three journalists—actually five as the end of the film will explain during its comical "what was true and what wasn't" montage—who took it upon themselves to find the most wanted war criminal in the world, Bosnia's "The Fox". Brought to screen by Richard Shepard, this is a movie that keeps you highly enthralled throughout. It may not be as solid a film as his previous effort, the underrated comedy The Matador, because it tries to push an agenda against all that was working for it. At its best, everything is absolutely pitch-perfect: taut thrills, suspenseful story, and great acting. As for the worst, it becomes a diatribe on how the world's governments care more about money than safety. Honestly, we all know this and don't need our entertainment to jam it into our skulls even more. Falling into a growing category for me—one that includes Blood Diamond—the end result here is a great film that just can't stop from trying to be more than it is, stumbling on its misguided mission rather than allowing its natural momentum to carry it through to the finish.

Stylistically this thing is beautiful to look at. I enjoyed the use of freeze-frames during the exposition scenes and the moments in warzones come across as real, dangerous, and above all else exciting. The joy and genuine laughter emitting from our leads after they narrowly escape death over and over again adds to the code of living life to the fullest that they both follow. Shepard holds some cards close to his chest also, showing us events leading up to Simon Hunt's breakdown, all but killing his career, however not explaining the entire story until absolutely necessary. Each character's motives aren't exactly the same towards the end as they were in the beginning. What's first a quest for redemption (Hunt), youthful vibrancy (Duck), and an excuse to show his father that he is made of more than a cushy Harvard school lifestyle (Benjamin) soon becomes a mission to do the right thing. These men are fighting for civility and humanity, two things that have left that part of the world and is in desperate need for return.

One can't fault any of our journalistic trio for anything they may find wrong with the final product. Richard Gere is spectacular as the fallen reporter, who we will eventually find has lost more than just his career. The desperation is always true and his actions perfectly played against the more sane members of the troupe. Terrence Howard shows us how great he can be and makes us wonder why he still feels the need to choose some god-awful movies between his good ones. The transformation he takes, in just a few short cuts, is rather staggering while essential to his role's motives later on. Going from an adrenaline junkie cameraman to a stand-in executive whose field work entails setting up outside the White House and Capital Hill almost makes you wonder how he ever could have changed so much. Then you think about the money, the security, and the relaxation time and soon the concept seems too good for anyone to pass up. The taste of danger never left, however, and it is his wrestling with that, by using some nicely timed humor, that helps carry the story to its conclusion. As for the boss's son, on his first foreign correspondence, Jesse Eisenberg epitomizes the book-smartass attitude someone in that position would have. It is his willingness to learn and bullheaded mindset to not let these two gu

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