Hunting Season

I don´t know why but i always wanted to go on vacation in Texas, USA. I always wanted to try their famous barbecues, watch rodeo shows, listen to bar country artists while having real Texas whiskey. This kind of lifestyle is more for me. I never liked the glamorous lifestyle, where everything looks so perfect and shiny. Just take me to an old school wooden cabin, sitting on the front porch in the Texas heat. Maybe it´s because i was raised being a hard worker, just like my grandfather Ingvar was. He always told me:- Work hard, do what´s right and you will be rewarded someday. He was actually right, over the years my former boss would raise my salary, sometimes my boss even got me oppurtunities to educate myself ( i work in health care since 1999 ). Speaking of the Texas heat or at least similar places. In the year of 2016 i did get to experience a true old school action gem, that both felt like an homage to the genre plus added some modern smaller touches as well. And that film is known as Blood Father, from director Jean-Francios Richet, ( who directed one of my personal favourite Gerard Butler films in recent years, Plane released in 2023 ). Blood Father turned out to be one of the better Mel Gibson films i had seen in years, it is very traditional when it comes to being an old school action film. A very masculine action film, while this film also have a nice chemistry between actors Mel Gibson and actress Erin Moriarty ( who fans of TV series The Boys will recognize ), as father and daughter War veteran and tatoo artist John Link ( Mel Gibson ), have not seen his daughter Lydia ( Erin Moriarty ) in may years. When she gets herself into trouble through a gang of criminals, it is up to her father to clean up her mess. Blood Father is exactly what you need to watch on streaming or VOID, if you just want a fun action popcorn movie night, reminding you of VHS tape rental stores. Speaking of legendary actor Mel Gibson, i recently sat down to watch one of his films released last year known as Hunting Season. Since i have watched Mel Gibson films since the 80´s, of course i have to see if he still got the same cinema magic in his eyes. Is this an action film you need to experience, or should you just go back to Mel Gibson classic Mad Max franchise instead?

In the remote woods of Oklahoma, Bowdrie ( Mel Gibson ), lives with his daughter, Tag ( Sofia Hublitz ). They hunt together fix supplies for the cabin, while Tag is the main cook. One day while Tag is going out fishing on her birthday, she stumble upon a badly injured woman named January ( Shelley Henning ). She have lost a lot of blood, and need medical assictance. Bowdrie try to fix her gun wound as good as he can, while the rest of her body have also been bruised. Tag cook meals to January, helping her get stronger. Bowdrive wants to know who tried to kill her, getting answers from January herself of her memories. He finds out these are no ordinary men, far more dangerous than that.

When Hollywood have been so focused on doing extremely high budget CGI films, it is nice for a change to see a film that takes us back to the good old days. What do i mean by that? Hunting Season really feels like a tribute to 80´s action films, where they use no CGI or fake looking special effects. Everything looks exactly like action films used to look like, real nature scenery, old school gun shootings and characters more developed than any Marvel film you can watch on Disney +. I can see why legendary actor Mel Gibson would do a film such as this, why make a film complicated when we remember old school classics such as Shoot To Kill with legendary actors Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger. Hunting Season really tries to avoid anything modern and focus on a familiar pattern from the 1980´s instead. The difference though especially between Shoot To Kill and Hunting Season, is that this Mel Gibson film have a much more dramatic undertone than Shoot To Kill. You have the very close relationship between daughter Tag ( played by actress Sofia Hublitz, who you might recognize from Netflix TV series Ozark, worth a watch ) and her father Bowdrie. They have been living in this cabin a long time, and you can tell Tag is not used to having a woman in her life. I think the father and daughter scenes are important in this film, it really show the importance of a good relationship. Even if you don´t have a big family, the family you have does matter. Actress Shelley Hennig ( who i recognized from MTV TV series Teen Wolf ) as the character January, really give this family the feminine touch that they needed. The main villain Alejandro ( played by actor Jordi Mollá, who was a bad ass villain in the 2013 sci fi action film Riddick ), feels like a real sleaze bag that matches this character well. The action scenes are effective, the violence ( when we finally get there ) does deliver some fun moments. The only thing i wish this film could have had was a better final shootdown bewteen the main villain and the family. It feels over way to soon, in my opinion. Otherwise im entertained by Hunting Season, nice to see that people like director RJ Collins still wants to make old school action films. Worth a watch on VOD, streaming or physical media, no matter what you prefer.

Rating: DDD