The Hunted (2003)

Directed by William Friedkin. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio del Toro, Connie Nielsen, John Finn, Leslie Stefanson, Ron Canada, José Zúñiga, Mark Pellegrino. [R]

Instructor Jones trained Delta Force operative Del Toro to be a covert assassin a little too well, as he is now a “killing machine” with severe PTSD who dispatches anyone who attempts to apprehend or terminate him. Flinty, bare-bones action-thriller is all mechanism, no plot; the characters lack dimension (and often even humanity), and just play hunter-has-become-the-hunted games with each other and grunt vaguely grim phrases that could be turned into parody with a gentler directorial touch. Shades of First Blood abound, though the pursued’s monosyllabic expressions are at least comprehensible here. Effective use of forested Oregon locations, marginal levels of suspense, and some visceral up-close fighting make it worth watching, but it disappears from the memory quicker than Del Toro into the woods.

60/100