"It is a film about campus politics, generational divide, the slippery nature of power dynamics, fantasy kitchen apartments, and whether you can be too much of a wife guy. But After the Hunt is mostly incoherent-a film that wants to embrace thorny topics but does so in service of online discourse rather than a good story. It is also a movie that was once highly anticipated but became absolutely hypeless through the combination of mixed reviews and bad marketing strategy."
"I barely know how to talk about any of it. If this movie was straightforwardly bad, you could just ignore it, but it's too well-made and has too many good actors for that to be the case. If it was fully bonkers, it would be a lot more fun. Instead, you have a scattershot project dirtied by all the mud it's trying to wade through."
"Israel Daramola: Kelsey, I asked you to watch this movie that you did not really know anything about for a couple reasons. I think After the Hunt is a mess, but still an interesting artifact that is better to discuss than it would be to just review. Also, as our queen of gossip, this is a movie that tries to engage with the way stories and accusations can become runaway trains. At least, I think that's what it's going for."
After the Hunt attempts to tackle campus politics, generational divides, power dynamics, media-driven accusations, and domestic life. The film features strong performances from a notable cast but suffers from incoherence and scattershot plotting. Ambitious thematic reach becomes muddied as the narrative prioritizes the mechanics of online discourse over coherent storytelling. Anticipation for the film collapsed amid mixed reviews and questionable marketing, leaving it hypeless. The movie resists easy judgment: it is too well-made and well-acted to dismiss yet not imaginative enough to delight as pure bonkers entertainment. Close examination reveals contradictions and artifacts rather than a cohesive narrative.
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