A grim, urban, high-speed thriller, The Hunter’s Prayer explores the concepts of redemption, justice, and survival in a city of betrayal and murder. Sam Worthington is a very strong actor who portrays a good character of Lucas, a haunted former soldier who is a reluctant assassin struggling with drug addiction and moral crisis. Once he is given a mission to kill Ella, a young lady entangled in a lethal plot his failure to go through with it triggers an adrenaline-filled course of events that reconciles him with Ella in an awkward alliance. Their expedition to Europe is a game of cat-and-mouse where they have a lot to lose, and are interspersed with angry gun battles and moments of weakness, making the tension the right through to the end.
The aesthetics of the film are mostly stark and action oriented and help highlight the roughness of the life of the characters in the film. The European setting in Switzerland, France, and further on, adds the aspect of desperate relentless chase, and the action sequences are thoroughly choreographed, raising the stakes, and adrenaline rush. The relentless nature of the movie is enhancing by the score, editing, making it an experience that plunges the viewers into the desperate justice seeking by Lucas and Ella. Underground, the novel discusses the cost of violence and addiction and the possibility of redemption when confronted with this darkness.
Although the story at times borders on the cliches of assassin movies, the heart and acting make the movie a notch higher than usual movies. The character of Ella in Odeya Rush makes her a vulnerable and powerful character that can plausibly be used to trigger the redemption arc in Lucas. Nevertheless, certain plots and motivations of characters are predictable, and the resolution, although it is satisfying, is typical of action-movies. In general, the movie “The Hunter’s Prayer” is a visceral ride that is filled with tension and leaves the viewers to thinking about how thin the border between vengeance and justice is.
