Thankfully, I’ve rarely had rivalries with my brothers. Even more thankfully, no such rivalry ever took place over who shot dad. We know very well who shot dad. I’m just kidding. We don’t know; we just know it wasn’t one of us. I think.
My father actually died from diabetic complications two years ago at the age of 86. He wasn’t shot. So why did I indulge in such tasteless humor? -And don’t think my dad wouldn’t have enjoyed it; his greatest achievement in life was sharing This Is Spinal Tap with us- Why? Because Hunter Brothers is a dog. And I’m being kind. This flat-footed, deadly boring drama decided it wasn’t going anywhere for 80 minutes, so then it devolved into a mystery with only two suspects.
At 1.5 stars, I’m rating it higher than it deserved because I think this film came from a good place when it wasn’t putting me to sleep.
So there were these two brothers …
“WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES?”
It doesn’t matter. And I hope it really doesn’t because I didn’t think I’d have to take notes on what their names were. Stupid movie.
The film is Taiwanese. Dad is a bully. He owns a piece of property in the woods where he likes to hunt wild boar. The younger brother takes after dad; the older brother is, well, the kind of guy you don’
t take hunting. He doesn’t like guns. He doesn’t like shooting. He doesn’t like hunting. Are we really surprised when dad winds up dead and younger brother is sent to prison?
Most of Hunter Brothers is set in the post-prison world where older brother is a doctor and younger brother is a drunkard leech. This goes on for more than an hour until the film decides to investigate who actually killed dad. Gee, you’ll never guess.
As I said above, this film wasn’t evil or selfish. It was just … dull. There’s a lot of eating in Hunter Brothers, which is fine if the film is about food. But this film is about how a family reacts to a tragedy. I can tell you resolutely that Hunter Brothers won’t make the annual worst list, but there isn’t a single person I’d recommend it to for any reason.
Two brothers went hunting with dad
A trip that ended in horrible trad
Years later, post jail
And much family fail
We return to the crime, how sad
Not Rated, 109 Minutes
Director: Hung En Su
Writer: Chen Ping, Hung-en Su
Genre: Drama … drama … drama … MYSTERY!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Hunting brothers, maybe?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “A very long way to go for a very small revelation”
