MovieChat Forums > The Hunted (2003) Discussion > Did anyone else expect a military/intell...

Did anyone else expect a military/intelligence coverup that made Del Toro innocent?

posted 6 years ago by mobocracy (845)
1 reply | jump to latest

Right up to the point that Del Toro's character killed FBI agents in the tunnels, I was kind of expecting a twist that revealed that the military was after him because he was wise to some military/intelligence conspiracy and was trying to escape it.

I suppose you can argue that the "hunters" were sweepers and that this was exactly what had happened -- the army guys in the van claimed he killed civilians and Del Toro claimed they were armed and he had to kill them to exfiltrate, and they were basically trying to cut off any loose ends.

But I was expecting something more than that which was going to result in Tommy Lee Jones taking Del Toro's side and helping him clear his name or something. But once Del Toro killed the FBI agents, the story seemed to lose some of its steam and become just another chase/action film with a big fight at the end.

[–] cyguration (3841) 3 years ago

It is weird, isn't it? Especially being Friedkin film. I never even paid attention to that for the longest, despite being a huge fan of his work.

Usually his films go for plot-subversions (i.e., To Live and Die In L.A., where it turns out that they killed an undercover cop, or Deal of the Century, where it turns out that the "hero" doesn't really make the big score he initially wanted and undermines his own potential success).

This time around, he didn't do that. I can't say it's for better or for worse, because it's a good film regardless. But it would have also been cool if the plot unfolded in the way you described. Both could have been equally engaging and entertaining films.