The Hunter (2012), A Film About Hunting A Thylacine aka "Tazmanian Tiger"

[scallenger]

I don't know how this film escaped so many people's radar, it seems. It has Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin), Sam Neil (Alan freaking Grant!), and Frances O'Connor (uhm... the mom from A.I. Artificial Intelligence) in the starring roles. And it's about the Willem Dafoe character tracking down a Thylacine, aka the extinct "Tasmanian Tiger". Or IS it extinct? Here is the plot, from IMDB:

The independent and lonely hunter Martin David (Dafoe) is hired by the powerful biotech company Red Leaf to hunt down the last Tasmanian tiger. Red Leaf is interested in the DNA of the animal and Martin travels to Tasmania alone. He poses as a researcher from a university and lodges in the house of Lucy Armstrong (O'Connor). Martin learns that Lucy's husband has been missing for a long time and he befriends her children, Sass and Bike. When Martin goes to the village, he has a hostile reception from the locals. Along the days, Martin spends his days in the Tasmanian wilderness chasing the Tiger and becomes closer and closer to the Armstrong family. But Red Leaf wants results no matter the costs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmBJefhcbR4

I had NEVER heard of this movie before until today, and was able to catch it on Netflix streaming. Judging from the above trailer, perhaps some may think this is some kind of a survival story, kind of like the fairly recent film "The Grey". But it's totally not. There really isn't any action or much "survival" at all. It is mostly a character story. That may put some of you off from seeing it, but I actually liked the movie for it. It's a slowly paced film, but never boring to me. You got to take in all the atmosphere of the beautiful Tazmanian wilderness. You're just as ready to see the Tazmanian Tiger suddenly appear from behind a tree just like the main character is.

Sam Neil is not in it as much as the other leads. But it's cool to see him involved in a film like this that has some very loose connections to the Jurassic Park-type genre, mostly in the film's overall message. He's not given a lot to do, but you can't help but get a kick out of him wearing a similiar style Grant hat as he walks through some lush vegetation leading someone around for a few minutes.

But the movie really goes back and forth between this searching and Dafoe's character dealing with local townspeople and the off-kilter family he is staying with. Amidst these scenes are subplots of hippie-types trying to not let the wildlife be taken down by outraged deforesting workers who don't want to be jobless because of them. The Red Leaf biotech company mostly stays in the background of entire movie, although near the end things do get a bit interesting concerning them. There are a couple of surprises and twists in store for this film that I dare not spoil. None are earth-shattering, but some things are best left to just see for yourself.

The bottom line is, yes, this movie IS about the hunt for the Tazmanian Tiger. But it's also not the film's entire priority either. I will say though that there is a sort of interesting message about extinction and other ethical thoughts in this film, and by the film's end, it becomes quite an interesting message. I definitely recommend this film. But just know that it will not be for everyone here.

Apparently, this film is actually based on a novel by the same name. Reading from the book's version of the plot, there are some interesting differences, most significantly involving the family Dafoe's character stays with.

Note: This film is Rated R. But I'm trying to recall exactly why, because I didn't find too much about it very R-Rated material. I guess I'm immune to rated movies anyway since I have seen so many and never cared about ratings, lol. It's most likely due to language. Although I will warn there is a shot or two of dead/cut open animals, briefly.

[tyrantqueen]

I always find Willem Dafoe pretty scary, haha I didn't know Sam Neill was a Kiwi, I always assumed he was American.

I like the Thylacine, although it's a bit of an overrated animal to be honest....it gets way more attention than other extinct animals. Just my opinion.

[scallenger]

Well probably because of it's recent extinction (in terms of Earth history) and bigfoot-like status since then. Plus I think a lot of people remember it's unique look once they see it. I actually didn't know what it was really called until I saw this film (I'm lame, I know) but I had seen it once before and apparently never forgot it's image.

Willem Dafoe is usually scary to me, too, haha! But he definitely does not come off as scary in this film. Haunted, and sad, actually.

[Roselaar]

I had heard of this film and really wanted to see it but sadly it was denied a theatrical release in the Netherlands. Oh well, there's always the Internet...

[Balaur]

I actually watched this with my dad, and my brother last year, and I really enjoyed it. It was slow paced but I never thought it was boring. I didn't know what movie is was but after a few hours of searching about Thylacine on Wikipedia I found the movie's title.