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Night Hunter

Night Hunter: “Wasn’t This a Series That I’ve Watched Before?”‎

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  • Alexandra DaddarioHenry Cavill...
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  • David Raymond
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Yasmeen Mamdouh
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Night Hunter: “Wasn’t This a Series That I’ve Watched Before?”‎

Featured image via geektyrant.com

 

Have you ever watched a movie and thought to yourself that it resembles a series that you’ve watched before? Well, even if you haven’t, you will probably get the same déjà vu feeling while watching Night Hunter.

Night Hunter follows Detective Marshall’s (Henry Cavill), pursuit of a man who has abducted, raped, and killed several young girls in his basement. However, he’s not the only one after him; psychological profiler Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) is trying to get to the bottom of what the criminal is about, and ex-judge-turned-vigilante Cooper (Ben Kingsley) who castrates sexual predators is also on the hunt. Can the killer be caught before he claims even more victims?

The film’s plot promises a psychological aspect from profiler Rachel, an aggressive yet legal perspective from Detective Marshall, and a not-so-legal and definitely brutal perspective from vigilante Cooper, all going against each other. This clash by itself is interesting enough to become the story’s focus, but it isn’t. Instead, the film takes the more traditional route of cops looking for the killer before he kills again,with Cooper surfacing every now and then.

Via thetechnovore.com

But the promising concept and ideas are terribly undeveloped, which is probably due to the feature’s runtime – just one hour and 38 minutes, which also majorly affects the characters’ depth. Even the most front and centre of characters seem shallow and generic, to the point where the audience doesn’t really have a chance to get to interact with them.

The third act does have a twist that gives a small spark to the film, but that spark is put out by the film’s final showdown scene, which definitely did not live up to the escalating pace, turning out to be a letdown to audiences.

For the acting, Henry Cavill’s performance is very much affected by how his character is written. Nevertheless, Cavill’s charisma and physique are plausible for the role. Alexandra Daddario’s performance is much more expressive, especially in an interrogation scene where her performance peaks. And even though the audience does not get to delve into her character, she stirs the pot enough to be remembered. Ben Kingsley’s role could have been written with much more poignancy and emotional outbursts, but instead, it’s just a hindrance to Ben Kingsley’s undeniable talent.

Night Hunter had promising aspects that could have made it memorable, but the plot’s rushed nature and shift to traditional focus ended almost any hope for that.

 

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360 Tip

This is Ben Kingsley's second movie shot in Winnipeg. The first being You Kill Me (2007).

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