The Hunter

Australia’s 2011 drama film “The Hunter” was produced and directed by Vincent Sheehan and Daniel Nettheim. It is based on Julia Leigh’s 1999 book. Sam Neill, Frances O’Connor, and Willem Dafoe are the film’s main stars. In order to attend the film’s premiere at the State Cinema in North Hobart, Willem Dafoe travelled to Tasmania.

In the narrative, a shadowy business titled “Red Leaf” employs Dafoe’s character, Martin David, as a mercenary to travel to Tasmania. His task is to locate thylacines, a mammal that is believed to be extinct. A potentially lethal weapon could be made using the genetic code of the thylacine. The film debuted on September 29, 2011, in Australian theatres.

The Hunter Movie Trailer

The Hunter Storyline

Mercenary Martin David is hired by a military biotech company called Red Leaf to go to Tasmania. His mission is to find and collect samples from a supposedly extinct animal, the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), and then kill any remaining tigers so no other company can get their DNA.

Martin pretends to be a university biologist and stays with the Armstrong family: Lucy and her two kids, Katie and Jamie. Lucy is often out of it due to medication, taken after her husband, Jarrah, disappeared. Jarrah was an environmentalist, and there’s a lot of mystery about his disappearance, especially because of the conflict between local loggers who need jobs and environmentalists who want to protect the forest. Martin spends twelve days at a time in the wilderness, setting traps and waiting for the tiger. He leaves the family a map with his location in case something happens to him. While at the Armstrongs’, Martin becomes friends with the kids and discovers that Lucy’s medication is given to her by Jack Mindy, who looks after the family. Martin takes away Lucy’s medication and cares for her, helping her recover from her dependency.

When Martin returns from one trip, Lucy has improved. Jamie gives him a drawing of the tiger near trees and water, helping Martin find the tiger’s location. On his next trip, Martin finds Jarrah’s skeleton and sees he was shot in the head. He buries Jarrah but doesn’t tell the family. Lucy later tells Martin that Red Leaf hired Jarrah first to find the tiger, but he stopped to protect wildlife instead. Red Leaf believed the tiger’s bite had a paralyzing venom.

While checking his traps, Martin is attacked by another Red Leaf operative sent to replace him. Martin tricks him into stepping on a trap and then kills him. Martin finds the map he left with the Armstrongs and realizes the operative has been to their house. He rushes back to find the house burned down. Mindy tells him that Lucy and Katie died in the fire, but Jamie survived and was taken by authorities. Determined to end Red Leaf’s hunt, Martin goes back into the wilderness, finds the Tasmanian tiger, and reluctantly kills it, burning its body to erase all traces.

Martin calls Red Leaf, telling them the tiger is “gone forever.” He then goes to Jamie’s school. When Jamie sees him, he runs to Martin, and they hug tightly.

Box Office

• Gross US & Canada
  • $176,669
• Opening weekend US & Canada
  • $19,032
  • Apr 8, 2012
• Gross worldwide
  • $1,680,778

Technical space

• Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
• Color
  • Color
• Sound mix
  • Dolby Digital
• Aspect ratio
  • 2.35 : 1

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