Hunters (2020)

“Hunters” is a mind blowing romp that packs an emotional punch. It just might be the best Amazon TV series yet.

It may not deliver on all cylinders, but there is enough of a spark here to keep the car running.

Good Pacino, skillful pulp, but an impossible balancing act.

This is a ballsy, unnerving, entertaining, overreaching show, one likely to provoke and annoy in equal measure. It may require an almost Talmudic level of study to determine if Hunters is good or bad for the Jews, but I'm willing to participate.

It’s a fast, frenetic show that’s all over the place — emotionally, violently and conspiratorially. Its darkly humorous bent competes with its righteous sincerity.

As with too many limited series, they had a feature film’s supply of story and (comic book) wit, saddled it with far too many distracting and less interesting outside of the leads, and then slow-walked the entire affair to a genuinely inevitable conclusion. ... Not everything Jordan Peele slaps his brand on is worth our time.

Spectacularly misbegotten. ... Neither the moral deliberations of “Hunters” nor its technical prowess are adequate to its ambitions.

Amazon's new series about 1970's **** hunters is a wild ride. "Hunters" has one of the best opening sequences out there and keeps the audience invested until the closing credits. Al Pacino (as Myer Offerman) is great (as always). My favorite quote from him: "Living well is not the best revenge. Revenge is the best revenge." The supporting cast is also excellent. Standouts include killer nun Sister Harriet (Kate Mulvany) and married weapons experts Morty and Mindy (Saul Rubinek and Carol Kane)-. There has been some controversy around the show (especially the human chess scenes). Creator David Weir says he wrote this story as a homage to his own grandparents who survived the concentration camps. I too am confused about how real life tragedies should be handled when they're converted into entertainment. Do shows like "Inglorious ****" or "The Man In The High Castle" belittle the real life suffering of millions of people (or do they impress upon younger viewers the horrors of the past)? I'm not sure what the answer is. I do think we need to look at the show's genre though. "Hunters" is not meant to be a documentary. It's a drama with grindhouse elements (and some comedy thrown in). And grindhouse movies such as Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof are completely over the top with gore and violence. All things considered, I still very much enjoyed "Hunters". In troubling times, this revenge fantasy is just what the doctor ordered.

It's a shame to see a production like this wasted in middling, tonally inconsistent writing and such a bland execution. None of the characters are explored in any significant way, most motivations are overlooked and the action lacks any intrigue to make the 10 episodes feel worth while. Specially when its not bold, witty or funny enough, to be intentionally comedic, and not articulate or nuanced enough to be a drama. It's funny to see the chess board motif, when everything about the series seems so haphazard, even the wannabe Tarantino stylings feel cosmetic and indecisive. I will say the ending is a bit of an improvement since things start actually happening, so the flat characters and plot become less important. But overall, I'd say give this a pass.

While not as offensive as Tarantino's obscene take on the Holocaust (Inglourious Basterds), this show rivals the film in its trivialization of the Shoah. The dictionary definition of "meretricious" is "apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity" and that describes this show quite accurately. The production values are high and the performances are often quite good, but the concentration camp scenes introduce new **** horrors spun out of the imagination of the writer's room, as if the actuality was insufficient. The entire exercise certainly convinced me that it had been based on comic book as that seems to be the aesthetic at work (watch "The Boys" instead). But, perhaps worst of all, the show doesn't really conclude, simply setting up a second season that promises even more egregious trivialization of the death of millions. Let's hope that second season never materializes.

man, wtf is this show? boring and annoying story. a big garbage. It's just a class B horror movie. I expected something better with Paccino in the cast.

i made it about half way thru episode 3 and it’s clear this is just bad. Amazon is yet to produce anything good, thought this may be their breakthrough. I’ll continue waiting. Also it does fail to mention the other ethnicities or groups of people who were victims of the holocaust as well.