Wounded (1997)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Richard Martin

Writers (WGA):

Harry Longstreet (story)
Harry Longstreet (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 April 1997 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

A hunter never leaves his prey wounded

Plot:

After a grizzly-bear poacher named Hanaghan kills her fiance and fellow Fish & Wildlife Deptartment officer...

Plot Keywords:

Poacher | FBI | Wildlife | Toilet | Public Phone

Cast

Mädchen Amick	...	Julie Clayton
Graham Greene	...	Nick Rollins
Adrian Pasdar	...	Hanaghan
Robert Costanzo	...	Stu Sachen
Richard Joseph Paul	...	Don Powell
Daniel Kash	...	David Boyd
Jim Beaver	...	Agent Eric Ashton
François Chau	...	Mr. Lee
Michael Rawlins	...	Agent Clark
J.B. Bivens	...	Richard Pearson (as John Paul Bivens Jr.)
Greg Rogers	...	Dr. Jay Voight
Jerry Wasserman	...	Dr. Sam Cohen
Frank Crudele	...	Bill Gillespie
Michael Dobson	...	Lee's Lawyer
Akiko Morison	...	Nurse #1

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and some language.

Runtime:

Australia:90 min | USA:96 min | Argentina:92 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Alphacine)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Spain:13 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Keystone Pictures

Movie Connections:

References "The Muppet Show" (1976)

Soundtrack:

Crush

First-class suspense!

The best reason to watch this sleeper hit is for the duel of wits and wills between Amick's character and Pasdar's. They are more than just characters in this movie. They each represent values. Pasdar re- presents the cold-blooded, calculating ruthlessness of the hunter- competitor; Amick represents the compassion and thoughtfulness that blunts his unreflective violence. You don't have to be an animal rights activist or a feminist to be rooting with all your might for Julie Clayton as she struggles to outwit the trapper Hanaghan.

At the beginning, Julie is admittedly at a disadvantage in her battle with Hanaghan. She has been through the trauma of an attack in the woods and is wounded and weak. She's not only weak physically. She's weak psychologically as well. She has to overcome her own fear and co-dependency. She would nearly have died herself, were it not for a chance encounter with a veteran police officer, played well by Greene. He helps her marshal the courage necessary to outsmart Hanaghan.

To its credit, this movie resists the strong temptation to degenerate into a series of explosions and wanton gunfire once Hanaghan has found

Julie. He must outwit her. He must prevent her from having her say.

But he cannot afford to kill her. He is in her world and out of his own wild element. So it remains a battle of wits all the way through this movie. This is not John Rambo vs. the Establishment in the wilderness!

The movie succeeds on another level as well. Although Julie Clayton becomes more like Hanaghan as she confronts him, she doesn't become exactly like him. That is, she doesn't become the mindless killing machine that he is. She retains her compassion, her humanity and her sanity. She's as strong as he is on her own terms. This is a victory not just for herself but for human dignity, which she represents.

The year 1997 seems to have been a good year for movies, especially sleeper movies like this one. This is a little jewel of a movie! Whoever can should catch it on cable. It's worth three stars!!