The Hunt
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 12, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 11, 2013
An outstanding lead performance by Mads Mikkelsen (who won best actor for the role at Cannes in 2012) anchors this hauntingly layered and nuanced drama of a man falsely accused of a terrible deed. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJul 9, 2013
Mikkelsen, who is not given to sympathetic roles, has never been better. This is cinema that sinks its claws into your back. Read full review
91
The PlaylistJessica KiangJul 9, 2013
For anyone with even a halfway developed sense of justice The Hunt may prove stressful, frustrating, even enraging, but it’s also an unbelievably effective watch, that, if nothing else signals an undeniable return to form for Vinterberg, and yet another blistering performance from Mikkelsen. See it, if only for the debates it will cause afterward. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 11, 2013
This is filmmaking of a high order, even though the production's scale is modest and the climax is not without its facile contrivances. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 15, 2013
Propelled by Mads Mikkelsen’s shattering performance as the blameless man whose life threatens to be destroyed, the film is superbly acted by a cast that never strikes a false note or softens the impact with consolatory sentiment. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanAug 5, 2013
Vinterberg has created a modern horror story about a man’s descent into a Kafkaesque nightmare. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickJul 11, 2013
Thomas Vinterberg (“The Celebration”) directs with restraint that makes the story all the more affecting. Read full review
88
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 9, 2013
It’s a pretty conventional “Lifetime Original Movie” sort of story. But co-writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (“Dear Wendy”) makes it work by building a sense of frustrating unease into it all. Read full review
85
NPRBob MondelloJul 12, 2013
The director makes clear that everyone means well — the headmistress, protective of her students; the parents, trying to shield children from things they shouldn't know about just yet; the investigators asking questions carefully, trying to see their way through ambiguous answers. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 26, 2013
Thomas Vinterberg’s film puts us just on the edge of screaming frustration; Mads Mikkelsen’s terrific performance (for which he won the best actor award at Cannes in 2012) only makes the film more powerful. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 12, 2013
It is a devastating film to watch. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 9, 2013
The movie works beautifully by bringing forward the delicate subject of guilt via passivity. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJul 6, 2013
What a knotty, frighteningly real drama The Hunt is. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesApr 15, 2013
Beautifully performed and tough as nails, Vinterberg's social drama could not be any more timely. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyApr 15, 2013
Vinterberg keeps us guessing right up to and after an end shot that suggests how tough some viral rumours are to shake off. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 15, 2013
It is forthright, powerful, composed and directed with clarity and overwhelming force, yet capable of great subtlety and nuance. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJul 26, 2013
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen delivers an astonishingly restrained and expressive central performance in The Hunt, an engrossing psycho-social drama by Thomas Vinterberg. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJul 25, 2013
The Hunt offers a powerful, provocative study of mob mentality and the fabric of trust. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comIgnatiy VishnevetskyJul 12, 2013
This is thematically rich material; unfortunately, like a few too many dramas from the past decade, The Hunt resists expressive uses of style, opting instead for gently bobbing handheld camerawork. It's an actor-friendly approach. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJul 9, 2013
It’s to the star’s immense credit that his spellbinding appeal provides a tension that the script’s funereal pace often lacks. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJul 6, 2013
The film is in part an exceedingly black comedy that parodies proper society's eager, self-righteous naïveté on the subject of its children. Read full review
70
The DissolveNoel MurrayJul 11, 2013
While The Hunt skillfully puts viewers through the wringer, it’s often for no higher purpose than pushing buttons and generating outrage. Read full review
70
VarietyBoyd van HoeijApr 15, 2013
Mikkelsen impresses here as a warm-hearted man who finds himself caught up in a situation way beyond his control. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJul 24, 2013
As emotionally devastating as it is, The Hunt is nevertheless rather schematic and pat. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJul 12, 2013
The subject matter, already troubling, is made even more so by Vinterberg’s almost sadomasochistic penchant for propping up Lucas’s martyrdom. He’s gunning for prey, too. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJul 10, 2013
None of the complexity of that initial interaction between teacher and lovestruck little girl carries over into the town’s reaction, which closely resembles that of the villagers in "Frankenstein." It’s like watching a deer run from shotguns for two hours — it evokes some sympathy, but that’s about all. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)James AdamsJul 18, 2013
While The Hunt strives mightily to provoke outrage, get the blood boiling, pluck the heartstrings and open the tear ducts, it never quite succeeds – a function of a narrative whose failures of credibility, finally, prevent a viewer from wholeheartedly embracing what director Thomas Vinterberg wants us to feel. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 16, 2013
Imbued as it is with a sense of discomforting truth, it is a worthwhile examination of human nature -- and one with a message well worth heeding. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJul 11, 2013
The Hunt doesn’t know where to stop. It is undermined with a short, unsatisfying epilogue whose shocking final moment isn’t enough to justify its inclusion. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJon FroschJul 9, 2013
Unlike in The Celebration, the cruelty and suffering in The Hunt feel both overly schematic and intellectually muddled. Read full review
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