The Hunted (1995)

Director:

J.F. Lawton

Writer (WGA):

J.F. Lawton (written by)

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

He's trapped in a world where killing is an art and revenge is an obsession

Plot:

Paul is on one of his many business trips to Tokyo, as a computer-chip executive from New York, when he meets a beautiful and mysterious woman...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Shinkansen | Bare Butt | Japan | Massacre

Cast

Christopher Lambert	...	Paul Racine
John Lone	...	Kinjo
Joan Chen	...	Kirina
Yoshio Harada	...	Takeda Sensei
Yôko Shimada	...	Mieko Takeda
Mari Natsuki	...	Junko
Tak Kubota	...	Oshima
Masumi Okada	...	Lt. Wadakura
Tatsuya Irie	...	Hiryu
Michael Warren	...	Chase
Bart Anderson	...	John
James Saito	...	Nemura
Seth Sakai	...	Dr. Otozo Yamura
Toshirô Obata	...	Ryuma
Ken Kensei	...	Sujin

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody ninja violence and some sexuality.

Runtime:

106 min | USA:111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Germany:18 | Ireland:18 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Bregman/Baer Productions

Trivia:

Exterior shots of the train were filmed on location on Japan, however, the interior shots were filmed on a set at Bridge Studios in Vancouver, B.C. The scenery rushing by outside the windows was simulated using large rotating drums with "blurred" scenery painted on it.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the Opening scene where Racine is walking with his business partners talking about "selling ice to Eskimos", Racine enters the taxi-cab with his trench coat on. When he arrives at the hotel, he gets out of the cab without the trench coat.

Quotes:

[Paul Racine, still injured, is carrying two buckets of coal]
Racine: [puffing] I wish I knew Japanese so I could tell this guy, I am not a donkey.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Your Studio and You (1995)

Typical action flick that suffers from poor fight scenes

Paul Racine is an American executive on a business trip in Tokyo. One evening he meets a woman in a bar and after a one night stand she is murdered by a legendary ninja cult. Paul sees the ninja leader's face and they try to kill him, but he manages to somehow survive and finds himself a man marked for death. He soon meets a mysterious martial arts teacher and his wife who fill him in on what is really going on... an ancient and bloody feud.

The pretty dull story idea could have been forgivable due to the fight scenes, however for such a martial arts/ninja centered action movie they are actually as dull as the story. Choppily edited, often with obvious jump-cuts, the action scenes just end up being slew of ruthless carnage that manages to knock off all non-significant characters in addition to the bad-guys. The two-dimensional acting and character development don't help out either.

The only thing that stands out in a good way is the limited comic relief of a drunken sword-maker and the use of Japanese music and not a pounding rock soundtrack - it manages to place the film in its actual setting, but in the end, the film is just a poorly made bloody mess. 3/10

Rated R for brutal violence