TIFF 2022: Hunt Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Already an accomplished actor in South Korea, Lee Jung-jae came into prominence around the world following an Emmy-winning performance in the mega hit Squid Game. As his star continues to rise, he embarks on a new journey with his directorial debut. Showing vision behind the camera, Lee also stars in Hunt, an entertaining Korean political action thriller with some great action set pieces. Perhaps running a touch too long, clocking in at over the 2-hour mark, its needlessly-convoluted narrative full of twists and turns ultimately detracts from anything else it may do right. That being said, those action pieces will surely be enough for certain audiences in spite of that narrative. While many will likely find themselves lost, the majority of audiences will probably not care as much about it. Never meant to be highbrow, the film excels at delivering pure popcorn entertainment that will probably not move the needle in the grand scheme in terms of the genre.

Hunt takes place in the 1980s amongst rising tensions between North and South Korea as KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park (Lee) and Domestic Unit head Kim (Jung) race against the clock to find a mole within their agency after a failed assassination attempt against the current South Korean president. However, finding that mole would be easier said than done as their investigation would unravel a literal treasure trove of secrets and plenty of twists, turns, and double-crosses involving the two men’s troubled past and a wide-ranging conspiracy. Suffice it to say that there’s a lot of pieces at play here and when it seemed like all the pieces were on the table, the film keeps throwing in a bunch more which only made things even more confusing and harder to follow. In spite of the chaos, there is still a decent amount of tension across its twists and turns all the way until the end. Over the course of that mystery, the film provides a series of exiting action set pieces, be it shootouts, fight scenes, or car chases. They may be frenetic but they are still well shot.

The best part of Hunt was the performances from Lee and Jung as Park and Kim. Each bring charm and presence to their roles while bringing depth to at least make them somewhat interesting and compelling to watch in spite of the messy narrative that does admittedly get silly at times. Meanwhile, their solid chemistry made for a dynamic rivalry between the two where it isn’t always clear where either character stood from beginning to end.

In the end, Hunt, in spite of its issues, is an entertaining watch that won’t demand much from audiences as long as they sit back, turn their brains off, and surrender.

*still courtesy of TIFF

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.