The Hunted

2003 Action/Adventure

A rogue special-forces soldier is tracked down by his former mentor in this action thriller from director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist). In his first role since winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2001, Benicio del Toro stars as Aaron Hallam, one of the U.S. military's most skilled hand-to-hand combat operatives. In the years following his successful assassination of a Serbian warlord in late-'90s Kosovo, Hallam finds himself plagued by traumatic flashbacks of death and destruction, so much so that when he finally returns home, he regresses into a feral, survivalist state in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. There, he deliberately and elaborately hunts and kills poachers who happen to cross his path. When the FBI investigates the murders, they call in the man who taught Hallam everything he knows: retiree L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones). As the instructor pursues his unhinged former pupil, Bonham begins to learn about key events in Hallam's life that pushed him over the edge. more..

Director: William Friedkin

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Connie Nielsen, Leslie Stefanson, John Finn

Reviews

  • Walking in, I thought I knew what to expect, but i didn't anticipate how William Friedkin would jolt me with the immediate urgency of the action. This is not an arm's-length chase picture, but a close physical duel between its two main characters.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    27 April 2013

  • Engrossing as it is, The Hunted is more a showcase for formidable talent than anything else. It's a brainy, exciting but shallow show -- an expert's action movie that almost runs out of breath.

    Michael Wilmington - The Chicago Tribune

    27 April 2013

  • The Hunted stalks the masculine psyche with sharp knives, but it tracks its audience too noisily to bag us.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    27 April 2013

  • Just a "Rambo" rehash.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    27 April 2013

  • Aspiring to pure action -- several very long passages are wordless -- the movie ends up teetering on the brink of self-parody.

    Joe Morgenstern - The Wall Street Journal

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Action

    Golden Trailer Awards (2003)