Simon Dillon reviews this terrific hunter-becomes-the-hunted flick

I really enjoy a good slow burning, pseudo-intellectual, hunter-becomes-the-hunted flick, and The Hunter is a terrific specimen in said sub-genre.

At the centre of director Daniel Nettheim's gem of a film is an outstanding performance by Willem Dafoe. He plays Martin, a mercenary hired by a biotech company to hunt the supposedly extinct Tasmanian tiger and collect genetic samples for their dubious ends. Posing as a University scientist, Martin lodges with a mother and her children in the Tasmanian wilderness and begins to bond with them, leading to unforeseen complications as he attempts to track his prey in the wild. Events are further complicated when he finds himself caught between environmentalists protesting the local logging business, and loggers whose jobs are under threat as a result.

At its most basic level this is a tremendously atmospheric drama, with Nettheim making splendid use of locations and gradually building the tension and sense of unseen, intangible menace. The knowledge that the father of the family Martin is staying with mysteriously disappeared looking for the Tasmanian tiger only adds to the sense of unease in the brilliantly spare screenplay (based on the novel by Julia Leigh).

The Hunter contains some interesting moral/spiritual food for thought, as Martin undergoes something of a redemptive character arc. In a sense, the Tasmanian tiger here symbolises the Holy Grail in that it isn't so much about finding the Grail, as what is learned on the quest itself. In spite of his apparent moral ambivalence, Martin cannot help but care for those he is staying with, and in the process rediscovers his humanity. In addition, there are some intriguing debates to be had. For instance - given the greed, ruthlessness and moral bankruptcy of many biotech corporations, are some species really better off extinct?

There is fine support from the rest of the cast (including Frances O'Connor, Sam Neill and particularly Morgana Davies and Finn Woodstock as the children), but more than anything this is Dafoe's film. He raises it well above the ordinary with his tremendous performance and provides compelling further evidence that there really is nothing like a good slow burning, pseudo-intellectual, hunter-becomes-the-hunted flick.