Rent Night Hunter (2018)

A terrible film with some of the worst editing I have ever seen committed to celluloid - Night Hunter review by TB

This is one of those films which makes you wonder how it got made and why the cast signed on.

It starts promisingly, with a half way decent opening and some fairly good world building. There is also a fairly well executed laying of the foundations of Ben Kingsley's character. But this roll call of great actors is then forced to go through the motions of one of the most inept and badly written scripts you could imagine.

And speaking of the cast, I have rarely seen a film squander so badly the incredible talent it has on screen. One of the best examples of this is around the halfway point. Stanley Tucci, Ben Kingsley and Henry Cavill are put in a room together. Irrelevant of what you may think of Cavill, he can hold his own in a scene and brings presence. And he is certainly more than capable of being part of a three-hander. Stanley Tucci & Ben Kingsley are absolute power houses and their reputations set in stone. So I was hoping that this pairing would be one thing that could at least be memorable, a chance to capitalise on the opportunity... The scene lasts less than a minute, there are probably 20 cuts and all they get to say is schlocky dialogue. And as quick as the scene is set, it cuts to another scene. What a waste of time and opportunity.

And speaking of cuts, the editing on this film is absolutely atrocious. As in, not something even a 1st year film student would submit. In the entire film, there are probably only 3 or 4 scenes which last more than 2 minutes in length. Most scenes in this 90 minute film last around 30 seconds. The film jumps all over the place, cutting back and fourth, losing you and killing your interest.

In one montage, we are shown 4 separate story arcs, one after another after another after another, cutting back and fourth, all over the place. By this point, you are not only confused but even worse, bored and disinterested.

By the time the final scene arrived, I was amazed at how laughable and stupid this was. And any emotional heft that it hoped to deliver was long dissipated.

Maybe OK, I couldn't tell. - Night Hunter review by JG

This disc has no subtitles. As I need the hard of hearing text to help out with the accents and mumbled dialogue I had problem in following the plot. I had a fair idea of what it was about from the synopsis but not being able to follow the dialogue left me feeling, "was it worth the effort?".

Below Average Vigilante Thriller - Night Hunter review by GI

A basic vigilante/cop thriller, a genre piece that is really a load of twaddle but has some entertainment value. Influenced by far better films like Seven (1995) and Prisoners (2013) this has emotionally damaged cop Marshall (Henry Cavill) investigating the murder of a young girl and finds himself caught up in the case with a vigilante judge (Ben Kingsley), who with a young girl, goes around trapping paedophiles and castrating them. They soon nail a suspect who is a gibbering fool but suspected of having multiple personalities but there's a twist in the plot which isn't that exciting. The film follows a fairly normal story arc but unfortunately never really gets anywhere too inspiring even the presence of Stanley Tucci as the police chief fails to lift it, he's clearly slumming it in this. Back in the day this would have been a 'straight to video' film that no one remembers.

Plot twists aplenty - Night Hunter review by F15HF1NG3RZ

It was an enjoyable plod with a good mix of big names in it, but the weird mix of accents was a bit bizarre for the setting of the film.