Hollywood Hues
Action all the way

The Hunting Party starts on a serious note but ends up trivialising
important issues, writes Ervell E Menezes

DO you know what it is to report on a real war? How far does`A0one go to get an exclusive? When in a dilemma do you stick to journalistic ethics of take the easy way out? The Hunting Party deals with these issues and`A0takes you into Bosnia where three journalists try to meet the most wanted war criminal The Fox. It is an "on the road" film, which starts of seriously`A0but later trivialises important issues and eventually falls between two stools — the serious and the comic.

Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) is a discredited war correspondent who knows no fear and with cameraman Duck (Terrence Howrd) forms a great team. They have a love-hate relationship but still Duck or Ducky as he is fondly called, trusts Hunt`A0implicitly. Carefree and mostly broke, Hunt is the type who’ll borrow from Peter to pay Paul. Rookie Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg), son of a VIP, given a chance to learn the journalistic ropes in the thick of war completers the threesome.

Based on the experience of five journalists who went to Bosnia to probe the war and wrote What I Did on My Summer Vacation, director Richard Shephard charts out this interesting story or war and its ravages and the stark dangers experienced by those in the firing line. The establishing shots are effective and the viewer soon forms a rapport with the veteran journalist`A0and his liaison with Ducky is also graphically portrayed.

The screenplay by Shephard and Scott Anderson is imaginative and all efforts are being made to meet the elusive Fox`A0 (Ljubomir Kerekes). Actually, it is a serious subject but just when the tension is building up it shifts channels and in its attempt to attack the world bodies like the United Nations and the sister organisations, it tends to get trite and dilutes the overall impact. Bosnia, the Serbians and Montenegro are all figure in it. The CIA, too, is not spared and the exciting plot takes the viewer on a 101-minute romp, which is good while it lasts.

Richard Gere in probably his first film since the musical Shall We Dance has the benefit of the colourful character he`A0plays and does a fair job but it is Terrence Howard who steals the show with a winning performance. Young Jesse Eisenberg is adequate in support as he provides dramatic relief while Diaqne Kruger has a minor cameo. It is action all the way and the camaraderie is the best part of it but the mix of two genres is its major handicap and knocks off the sting from an otherwise enjoyable entertainer.

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