Ryan Shoots First: Night Hunter
Night Hunter has an impressive cast right out the gate. It is filled with current, relevant Hollywood stars still involved in big projects. Henry Cavill, Alexandra Deddario, Ben Kingsley, Minka Kelly, Nathan Fillion and Stanley Tucci. That is a star studded cast and when ever I see that many stars in a VOD release my mind begins to race. Why would they do this? Do they believe in the project? Is it so crappy the studio thought “we can’t release this”, is the director just very tied in in Hollywood and pulled in a lot of favors or does he just have a lot of dirt on movie stars? I can’t help but be intrigued about what the film will bring.
The movie stars Cavill as a washed up grizzled Lieutenant who gets caught up in a bad situation, along with his team and a vigilante. So you know standard fare and while my first thought was that Cavill is not quite to the point in his career where the washed up old guard really fits. I mean they guy is jacked and is not that far removed from playing frickin’ Superman. Compare that to Gerard Butler in Angel Has Fallen or Mads Mikkelson in Polar earlier this year and it just doesn’t fit. But still not enough to turn me off to the film just didn’t quite work casting wise. Everyone else mentioned above fit much better and settle into roles and places they are familiar with it is just a shame the script and plot does them no favors at all.
When I saw the initial reviews of 4/10 or other low scores I’m instantly defiant. In fact, most of the movies I review here at BPA and absolutely love are panned all over the web. They don’t get the genre and here at BPA it’s our bread and butter. So I start the film ready to spite love it and tell everyone how they don’t get cheesy B action but alas even my bias couldn’t force the keys of my laptop to say the movie isn’t a wreck and mess. Visually it’s above average and gives some dynamic shots and good action but it’s just so disjointed and disconnected from the story it couldn’t cover it up. It felt like the kind of film that a popular DP in Hollywood is directing for the first time (I have no idea if that is true). And as the movie went on the casting of Cavill became more than just odd and showed to be a sign that the movie just didn’t know what it was doing or what it wanted to be. It felt more like a series of scenes happening one after another that were loosely tied like a sketch action show.
I’m sure in the director/writer/producers mind it all came together and I certainly give him props for not only actually making a movie but putting together this cast. Outside of Cavill the rest of the cast do a stellar job but it does feel that majority of the effort and budget went into getting talent that would draw eyes. Still everyone starts somewhere and if some of the other cinematic skills can catch up to the ability to book some stellar talent we are in for some good VOD films in the future.
Also you stay classy Nathan Fillion… you’re a treasure and don’t ever change.
