Hunted / Sam Hunter

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domino harvey
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Hunted / Sam Hunter

#1 Post by domino harvey » Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:38 pm

Having only just learned it existed yesterday, I already ran through all eight episodes of Hunted, a BBC/Cinemax co-production created by former X Files writer Frank Spotnitz and available gratis via On Demand to Cinemax subscribers. This show isn't classy, but man is it entertaining. A melding of Alias, Kill Bill, and Haywire, this spy-based double-cross machinery is an expensive-looking distraction, anchored by Melissa George (I think by this point I have to give up any hope of George being called upon by producers of any of her projects to do anything other than just look hott) as the one woman ass-kicking machine at the center of all the backstabbing and corporate intrigue. Just like Justified always finds an excuse in every episode for Raylan to face down a baddie in a stand-off, Hunted requires its heroine to exhibit inhuman prowess in hand-to-hand combat in every installment. It'd be more laughable if these segments weren't well-executed-- my favorite example being the ep where George walks down a hotel corridor to confront a room full of thugs, pausing briefly to pick up a fire extinguisher, which she then uses to beat the living shit out of everyone inside the hotel room. Perfect! This is junk food of the highest order, the kind of show where one of the antagonists has a habit of stabbing victims in the eye with a syringe in full view of the camera, and I enjoyed it in a marathon-sesh, popcorn-munching fashion. Give me this over prestige TV any day!

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: TV of 2012

#2 Post by warren oates » Fri Dec 21, 2012 1:38 pm

domino harvey wrote: Give me this over prestige TV any day!
You mean like Mad Men or Breaking Bad? I thought Hunted was about as bad as Strike Back -- with which it shares a head writer -- only more self-serious. I couldn't make it past the pilot.

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Andre Jurieu
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Re: Hunted

#3 Post by Andre Jurieu » Fri Dec 21, 2012 3:06 pm

I was actually quite amused by Hunted. Like so many other UK shows, it benefited greatly by having a small run of episodes for its season, so it was short and sweet. The pilot was executed far better than many of it's US-equivalents have been in the past. The series became more-and-more ridiculous in terms of its plot, but the difference was that it was a show that knew it was nothing more than an entertaining espionage series.
domino harvey wrote:... Hunted requires its heroine to exhibit inhuman prowess in hand-to-hand combat in every installment. It'd be more laughable if these segments weren't well-executed-- my favorite example being the ep where George walks down a hotel corridor to confront a room full of thugs, pausing briefly to pick up a fire extinguisher, which she then uses to beat the living shit out of everyone inside the hotel room. Perfect!
Since I'm assuming they couldn't get someone like Gina Carano and wanted to keep the aesthetic-appeal of Melissa George, there is a greater suspension-of-disbelief requirement since George is rather slight. However, one of the things I was impressed by in the series was that they wisely made the fights somewhat-realistic, as George's blows didn't land like unmedicated-Tyson-pounding-Spinks, but rather required her to clock her opponents with multiple blows and use other objects to cause greater impact (like the fire extinguisher). It also helped that she often walked away with some noticeable damage after many of the altercations. It's still not reality, but within the confines of the genre, the fights seemed mildly plausible.

I recently heard that it's been picked up for an American reboot for US-premium cable (not sure if it was Cinemax). That worries me, as the very same things that made it work (brevity and precise execution), will likely be lost once the series is required to provide more episodes.

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domino harvey
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Re: Hunted

#4 Post by domino harvey » Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:15 pm

Yeah, I'm with Andre, it'd be a mistake to confuse the outward respectability of the shenanigans on-screen for evidence that the show takes itself seriously-- in addition to the laundry list of influences I rattled off earlier, it reminds me of the more comical switcheroos of Duplicity in this regard.

Re: Series two-- The BBC canceled their involvement in the show last month after the producers already started writing the second series, which would have been set in Berlin. Cinemax expressed interest in picking it up for a second season but with a far reduced budget (ie the Berlin series has been scrapped) since the BBC won't be footing most of the bill. As much as I enjoyed the eight episodes we got, I'm not sure it'd work with reduced production funds-- this ain't exactly character-based dramatics!

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: Hunted

#5 Post by warren oates » Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:06 pm

domino harvey wrote:...in addition to the laundry list of influences I rattled off earlier, it reminds me of the more comical switcheroos of Duplicity in this regard.
Perhaps in that regard only? Duplicity strikes me as underrated. Though it's clearly a comedy, It's a film that certainly did its homework about the world of private/corporate espionage and had accurate and interesting things to say about that procedurally and thematically. I was drawn to Hunted based on the idea that it would supposedly portray that same world. And London really is probably the best city in which to explore this subject -- given the very real presence of hundreds of private spies on the streets at any given moment -- had the show been more ambitious and gone in a different direction.

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domino harvey
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Re: Hunted

#6 Post by domino harvey » Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:19 pm

If there is any latent interest, you should at least watch the second episode, which sets up the premise for the rest of the series, as the first episode just does the legwork on setting up the background for the actual plot of the series. There's quite a bit of combating spy groups, corporate espionage, assassinations, and some fashionable anti-capitalism thrown in for timeliness

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domino harvey
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Re: Hunted

#7 Post by domino harvey » Fri May 31, 2013 5:03 pm

domino harvey wrote:Does anyone know if the Region B Blu-ray release of this series is 1080p or 1080i? Haven't been able to find any confirmation one way or the other. It's dangerous buying British shows on Blu-ray since the 1080i's won't work even on most region-free players!
I finally took a gamble on the R2 Blu-ray set after seeing that this was unbelievably getting dumped onto DVD-Rs in America and the set is RB and luckily 1080p, so playable on any TV so long as your Blu-ray player is region-free! \:D/

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domino harvey
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Re: Hunted

#8 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:21 am


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