The Hunting Party

Just got back from the premiere at Venice, where a huge round of applause acknowledged the film's quality as well as Richard Gere's enduring star status.

As society and modern youth get serious again, so Hollywood follows the trend, as movies tackle war corruption and hypocrisy following Clooney, Gore et al's lead. Shephard manages to combine thriller with humour and quips without it becoming a cheesy Lethal Weapon type ride. That's due mainly to sterling performances from Gere, reinvigorates after The Hoax, and Howard, showing a comic side after the intensity of 'Crash' Jesse Eisenberg also looks like this role was written for him personally, and the remaining cast are appropriate. The crisp, realistic docu-direction, mainstreamed by Paul Greengrass, has exerted its influence and fits neatly into this film without looking forced.

Therefore, it works - it brings a serious issue to attention with humour, compassion and enough adrenaline to remind one of the risks some people take with their lives for their causes, when most of us take the cosy path of least resistance.

The picture is set during 2000, five years after the Bosnian/Servian war.A successful cameraman named Duck (Terrence Howard), a discredited journalist affected for war named Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) and a youngster correspondent named Strauss (Jesse Eisenberg) undergo an unauthorized mission to find the most wanted war criminal in Servia. They find themselves in serious danger when are chased and mistaken as a CIA agents and their objective, the Fox/ Rodovan Karadzic (Kerekes), the number one war criminal, decides to come after them.

The film is an adventure that embark a motley trio (Gere-Goddard-Eisenberg) posing as a hit squad and looking for a famous war criminal who bears remarkable resemblance to Radovan Karadzic. The story blends action, thought-provoking drama, thrills and some of humor with tongue in cheek . It packs a relentless critical to International Community, as UN, NATO, European countries because they are not only attempt on keeping him whereabout secret, but will oppose anyone who even intent to locate him . However he was arrested in Belgrade on 21 July 2008 and brought before Belgrade's War Crimes Court a few days later. He was extradited to the Netherlands, and is currently in The Hague, in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia .Karadžić is accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of personal and command responsibility for numerous war crimes committed against non-Serbs, in his roles as Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb armed forces and President of the National Security Council of the Republika Srpska. He is accused by the same authority of being responsible for the deaths of more than 7500 Muslims. Under his direction and command, Bosnian Serb forces initiated the Siege of Sarajevo. He is accused of ordering the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, directing Bosnian Serb forces to "create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival of life" in the UN safe area. In addition, he is accused of ordering that United Nations personnel be taken hostage in May-June 1995.He was jointly indicted by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1995, along with General Ratko Mladić.

The movie contains an excellent main cast as Richard Gere and Terrence Howard and good secondary cast as Diane Kruger, James Brolin as anchor man , Dylan Baker as CIA agent and of course The Fox/ Karadzic played by Kerekes. It packs a colorful and evocative cinematography by the prestigious David Tattersall .Good and adequate musical score by Rolfe Kent with some Eastern sounds. The flick is professionally written and directed by Richard Shepard. He's writer, producer and a fine cinema director (Matador, Mexico city, Oxygen), though nowadays he exclusively works for television (Ugly Betty, Criminal minds, among others). Rating : Better tan average , well wort seeing. The motion picture will appeal to Richard Gere fans.

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 guys do anything to make him out to be a wuss that lead him to becoming an integral part to the team and mission at hand.

Along with them, every character that is met with on the journey to find "The Fox" adds just the right amount of infused quirk needed to keep interest. While familiar faces like James Brolin and Diane Kruger play their parts well, it is a guy like Mark Ivanir as Boris the UN executive that shines. He is caught up in this imaginary scheme of CIA hit squads coming in to do that which he wishes he could. It appears he has watched too many American movies and the dream of being a real live Deepthroat seems to appeal to his sensibilities as he attempts to help the trio in their quest to find that which is never found. These bit parts bring much of the laughter and absurdity that counterbalances the abundance of drama and high emotional toll seen at every turn. The Hunting Party does not try and sugar-coat what is going on in the Balkans and pays much attention in showing the truth and not what is read in the history books, both figuratively and literally—the book in physical form during a nice scene of Howard opening the innocent eyes of Eisenberg in a bar, along with the help of four of the real-life reporters on which the film is based.

Shot with some wonderful compositions and blocking of actors to build a sense of suspense and fear, Shepard has crafted a winner. Besides a too-long scene that goes on and on about how the UN and people in power are only out to create good PR without any work going towards punishing the monsters running free, I have little to complain about. I was almost completely removed from enjoyment with the horribly trite and overused joke with the ending subtitled words, but was redeemed with the inventive "what was real" sequence. To see the humor that was bubbling under the surface for the duration stick to the screen even after the story was finished brought the smile back to my face and made me remember all that worked, letting the more wrong than right final act to dissolve into the background.

It's good to see Richard Gere again. And his co-star is a fine actor. The story is good, the direction is good, you wont be disappointed - in fact you might wonder why you didn't hear about this movie before. Hollywood produces some good things and some dross; this is one of the good ones and politics must have dictated the release date, not the quality of the product, because it leaves many of the seasonal releases in the dust. This movie is about Bosnia, which most people find easier to forget. I was there in the early 90s and liked it a lot - and then the criminals came. Watch the movie - you wont regret it. I gave it a 7 and it might appeal more than that.

The best part of this movie is that it keeps your interest. It overdoes the language and gets a bit preachy here and there but overall does what you ask a movie: it entertains. If you're looking for a fairly intense 100 minutes of diversion, you'll get it here. However, I wouldn't watch it twice.

Terrence Howard as "Duck" and Richard Gere as "Simon" are both very interesting. Jesse Eisenberg as "Benajamin" was a bit annoying because he looks stupid and has a whiny voice. Since this is a man's movie, Howard and Gere fit the bill better.

The movie has a good mix of suspense, action, intrigue, war, politics and even a couple of doses of humor, which was a nice touch. The minor characters, like "Boris" (Mark Invanir) were as interesting as the leads, and the camera-work and scenery were worth watching, too. Boris doesn't get much billing here but he has several scenes and they are good.

Are a hundred f-words and a 10-20 blasphemes really necessary in telling this story? In a word: no. I was surprised, only because Gere has been in a number of entertaining films over the years and I don't ever recalling him anywhere near this profane in any of his roles. An f-word out of his mouth almost every other sentence seemed out of place, especially for an outspoken Buddhist, wouldn't you think?

As soon as Howard spoke, his voice was familiar. I couldn't remember where I'd heard it but knew it wasn't long ago. I looked it up here on IMDb and now remember hearing/seeing him in "The Brave One," another 2007 movie. Anyway, he and Gere make a good "buddy act" in this film and didn't really need the kid with them.

The "message" of the movie, as they say several times during the movie and in print at the conclusion, is that these Bosnian war criminals are still out there and no one seems to really want to capture them.