The Hunt review: Reimagining the art of political backstabbing

Struggle for survival: Hilary Swank plays the villainous Athena who targets Betty Gilpin’s Crystal

It’s being hyped as this year’s most controversial film, the satire Trump didn’t want you to see. Craig Zobel’s fifth feature is about our unwillingness to check facts — it’s full of characters who’d rather rant than do some research.

Ironically, last September, as the United States reeled from back-to-back shootings, the President, even though he hadn’t seen The Hunt, thundered that it was designed to “inflame”. Talk about the POTUS calling the kettle black.

A collaboration between Universal and Blumhouse (like Get Out and The Invisible Man) this riotously violent horror-comedy deserves its second chance, though ignore critics who tell you it’s as sharp as Get Out (that’s fake news). Nor is it as balanced as Knives Out.

On the other hand, it’s tense, pacy and gives us two memorable characters: Athena (Hilary Swank), a juicy villainess, and Crystal (Betty Gilpin), a witchy action heroine with delightful hints of Phoebe Buffay.

Twelve people, who have been kidnapped from their homes, are chased through a mysterious patch of countryside by unseen forces. It becomes clear that most of these victims are Right-wing conspiracy theorists and that, though they see themselves as survivalists, they are rubbish at staying alive. Crystal (unclubbable, in so many ways) is one of the few left standing.

Film 2020: All the major releases heading to cinemas this year

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The person behind the killing spree is Athena, a wealthy Left-winger who, per Hillary Clinton, refers to Republicans as “deplorables”. Her friends — the sort who tremble with joy when their tweets are liked by Ava DuVernay — are smug hypocrites, far more deluded, even, than the rednecks.

They keep referencing Animal Farm, but clearly don’t understand its message. They don’t get, for example, that Snowball is one of the book’s heroes. (Find that hard to swallow? Me too. It’s a cheap shot).

What works well is that Athena isn’t your typical, self-righteous, female fascist (as seen in The Beach, Divergent or The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part Two). She has more in common with mesmerising, unpindownable Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada. Here, the Democrat wears Prada and, in a battle sequence entirely set in a des-res kitchen, talented Swank demonstrates the importance of not being earnest. Gilpin (Glow’s Liberty Belle), meanwhile, matches her every step of the way.

Trump might decide he likes this movie. It’s Trump; it’s 2020; anything is possible. But don’t let that put you off. Zobel puts partisan lunacy in the crosshairs and (for the most part) does scattergun humour proud.

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