The Hunted (1995)

Obviously this is not the "serious" or "realistic" ninja movie many reviewers make it out to be. I think people say that because it is at least more serious and realistic than several popular ninja movies from a decade prior, like American Ninja or Enter the Ninja (both of which, by the way, I enjoy). But make no mistake; The Hunted is still quite outlandish and, at times, ridiculous. I mean, in one scene, a man breaks a samurai sword by slamming it against a rock. Another man breaks a sword with brute strength. If it were that easy to break these swords, they wouldn't hold up well in a battle would they? And that's just Exhibit A in my case against those who call this movie "realistic." There are many more exhibits I won't go into here. However! I say these things as a partial compliment. Frankly, I don't think a *truly* serious, practical, down-to-earch movie about ninjas in the modern world would be much fun to watch. Whereas THIS movie was a LOT of fun to watch! Christopher Lambert is his usual charismatic self and a joy. (He also has good comic timing when necessary.) And the story moves briskly from one action set piece to the next. The highlight, of course, is the massacre aboard the bullet train. I noticed another reviewer call it a "plot hole" because the secret ninja cult outs themselves to the world in that scene. I guess that reviewer missed the moment when the ninjas themselves say, "We will send a message to the world..." just before they begin the massacre. It would seem secrecy was no longer their goal. Quite the opposite! They were ready to begin a new era where the ninja reign supreme. Which I guess could serve as Exhibit B but, as I said, I won't go there. I'll just say I had a blast watching The Hunted and will gladly watch it again.

I remember this movie when it was in theaters. One of the best movies ever if you like martial arts and ninjitsu.

Saw it on HBO one night and loved it ever since.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Christopher Lambert as much as the next person. His choices in movie roles make for some fun films to watch. But with this film, I have to tip my hat to Yoshio Harada who plays Takeda Sensei, the descendant of Samurai Family Lineage. In most Martial Art movies we see the insanity of running along walls, amazing flips and impossible battles that leave you gawking. Aside from one instance when Takeda deflects incoming Shuriken with his Katana, the fight scenes in this movie are brutal and are much more "realistic" than you might be used to seeing. This coupled with the power of Kodo, a Taiko drum group that adds to the films soundtrack, and you find your blood boiling with every subtle pause that follows a series of graceful sword strikes.It is a lost movie, because it is hard to find martial art films where the fight scene makes your pulse rise to the point where you feel your heart is in tune with the small steps taken by the swordsmen who pace around each other.The downside? Well, the movie get slightly cheesy in some points. This is is mostly due to Christopher Lambert, but I don't feel it detracts from the film in whole. In truth, I feel Lambert's performance is much more on Par than Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai and we can certainly empathize with his character: An ignorant westerner thrown into an exotic world of life and death. All he can do, is his best.It's a fun film, and definitely worth the price you would pay by ordering from Amazon.

This movie inspired me to write and develop a samurai video game for Activision, we rebranded it as Legend of the Five Rings, which I promoted at E3 back in 1998. I had to write that out because this film set my professional life in motion. I would never have gone into the interactive space without it.So the picture quality is pretty good, not amazing but the best I've ever seen it. The soundtrack is epic, really epic. The reason I love this film so much is because it removes all of the mysticism and makes it authentic and believable. Christopher Lambert is his usual self, the stand outs are the ninja, his victim and the samurai who is looking for payback. The samurai character, to me, is the greatest example of what a modern day samurai would look and act like. The ninja is also adapted for modern day because he is ruthless but sophisticated. The fight scenes are as good as you'll ever see, you'll be watching the train scene over and over. This is such a hidden gem because the main cast just eats up the screen.Definitely buy it if you've never seen it, no one is streaming it, plus it's good to keep a physical copy of such a rare film.

This is a hidden gem of a film, if you want to see a realistic depiction of ninjas in western film this one is high up, with acts of levity on the right times and action. One of the coolest train sequence in film. I highly recommend this film

The quality of this movie is as great as I remember seeing it years ago. As for the content, anyone who liked Christopher Lambert in Highlander, Beowulf or Mortal Kombat would probably like him in his role here as well. Unlike the invincible image he creates in those roles, here he seems quite vulnerable to a clan of ninja who continually try to kill him because he witnessed a murder by their leader and saw his face. But he outsmarts them all through the movie, as they kill anyone and everyone who gets in their way. It even has a scene where he crossed the language barrier. He was close to being killed by two ninja when he asked a woman on the phone how to say "Get me a taxi, please." When he said it to a little girl, she did it. While studying Japanese on my own, I came across the same words and got a chuckle. All in all, there are some pretty interesting fight scenes and just some plain slaughter scenes, but in the end, it is Christopher who is left standing.

They enjoy watching it!

Una de las mejores películas de acción y samurais, inspiradodoras de escenas de películas posteriores de gran éxito

ich suche viele filme auf blu-ray und es ist schön dass man sie auch dem ausland bekommt,man sollte jedoch mehr informationen geben ob es die filme mit oder ohne deutscher tonspur gibt. wäre sehr hilfreich

Un DVD reste un DVD. Les "vieux" sont moins difficile à trouver sur Amazone.

One of the best ninja moves out there