How the Hunters series combines detective story and grotesque violence

Uneven plot and atmosphere

In the center of the plot is the young man John Heidelbaum (played by Logan Lerman, known for the films about Percy Jackson). He lives in New York with his Auschwitz grandmother Ruth. One evening she was killed right in the house by an unknown person, and she obviously knew the attacker. Soon, John meets Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino), Ruth's longtime friend.

He says that after the war, thousands of Hitler's high-ranking followers migrated to the United States. And so he organized a group "Hunters", which calculates and destroys fascist criminals who killed Jews in concentration camps. Meanwhile, the Nazis are planning to build the Fourth Reich in the United States.

Literally from the first episode, the series sets a very strange tone, which will surely confuse some viewers. It seems to be a very serious story, and even presented quite cruelly. Some heroes went through concentration camps and lost their loved ones. And that is why revenge has become an integral part of their lives. A lot of time is devoted to flashbacks about World War II, which introduce the viewer to the past of the characters. And these are very dark scenes.

But then the story jumps to an almost parodic ultra-violence: the Nazis in "The Hunters" are presented exclusively by insane fanatics, and the methods of dealing with them are very sophisticated. In addition, everything is interrupted by inserts in the spirit of sketches from the show Satuday Night Live (in which Jordan Peele once worked). The team of hunters is presented as the heroes of old spy films, the methods of capturing the Nazis turn into a funny dialogue with a child in a TV show, and Jonah's own experiences are suddenly embodied in a dance to the song Stayin 'Alive.

Such a sudden change in mood is not so bad in itself (the authors are clearly trying to play on the "Inglourious Basterds" field). But still, to accurately build such an action, you need to be Quentin Tarantino. In the series, each of the parts is given much more time, and this can sometimes interfere with the holistic perception.

This problem is reinforced by the very slow acceleration. The authors decided to better acquaint the audience with all the characters, so the main plot sometimes stumbles on the spot. The first episode lasts an hour and a half - almost like a full-length film. And it will take about 11 hours to watch the entire season.

But, perhaps, this is the only problem of the Hunters. Otherwise, I want to say only good things about the series.

Charismatic characters

First of all, it's very pleasant to watch the cast. Logan Lerman, despite his rather young age, already has a long track record, starting to play as a child. And in "Hunters" he proves that fame came to him for a reason.

Jonah came out as the most interesting character, developing well during the action. In the beginning, he is just a boy who only wants to have fun with his friends, but losses and difficulties change the hero. He demonstrates his intellectual abilities by solving complex ciphers and joins the team. But at the same time, John does not turn into a superhero. He doubts and fears, and by the end his anxiety is visualized in a very unusual way.

There is no need to talk about Al Pacino at all. Having played in the Irishman, he turned out to be the only possible rival of Brad Pitt at the last Oscars. And his Offerman may at first somewhat resemble the previous role, but over time it reveals itself very unexpectedly. On the one hand, this is an elderly and tired person. On the other hand, he still has a lot of anger towards the past, including his own life.

The rest of the team, of course, are closer to the cliches from the cinema, but still almost everyone manages to touch the viewer. If not immediately, then certainly by the second half of the season. The story of the Markowitz couple (Saul Rubinek and Carol Kane) turns out to be the most touching of all. And their reaction is the most humane, even when there is an opportunity to avenge the past.

It makes no sense to tell more about all the heroes, and many facts may seem like spoilers. We will only mention that the serial audience will be familiar with almost all the actors.

As for the antagonists, they are, as mentioned above, rather grotesque. But this is what makes the characters brighter, allowing the actors to reincarnate with full dedication into almost comic book villains.

Good detective

After a leisurely acceleration, the "Hunters" gradually turn into a curious action detective story. The authors, starting right from the screen saver, create associations with a game of chess, and this analogy is used repeatedly in the plot. However, further on, everything develops even more complicated. At least because there are much more players. FBI agent Millie Morris (Jerrika Hilton, known for Grey's Anatomy) joins the confrontation between the "Hunters" and the Nazis.

And in the end, everything turns into interesting cat and mouse, when everyone is hunting for everyone and at the same time trying not to get caught by a third party. We can only guess who will outsmart whom.

Towards the end, the action takes several crazy turns, again balancing on the brink of tragedy and almost phantasmagoria.

Perhaps the development of the plot will not be so unpredictable. Still, there are plenty of surprises. After all, most heroes also have secrets in the past that strongly influence their present.

alternative history

The creators of the series have already been criticized by the Auschwitz Memorial slams Amazon series about Nazi hunters for its ‘dangerous foolishness due to the many inaccuracies in the stories about Auschwitz. But the producer of "Hunters" David Weil stressed that the series is not positioned as historical and all events, including the game of "live chess", are completely fictional, just so as not to touch on the real tragedy.

"Hunters" do not pretend to be plausible. They are better attributed to the genre of alternative history, like "The Man in the High Castle" or "Inglourious Basterds". The ending speaks about it almost directly.

Therefore, you should not criticize the project for distorting the truth, it is better to look for some intersections with reality. It's no secret that Nazi criminals were really caught long after the war, including in the United States. And, for example, one of the murders in NASA will surely remind Brown, Werner von of Werner von Braun, who worked during the war for Nazi Germany, and later created the US space program. And there are enough other coincidences.

In addition, the series continually references 1970s pop culture. For example, teenagers here constantly discuss comics and argue about the identity of Darth Vader from Star Wars (as if recalling that at that time only the first part of the saga was released). At times it looks too deliberate, especially at the beginning. But still, the spirit of the era with all its advantages and disadvantages is conveyed well.

As a result, the hardest part of this series is the long start. But with each episode, the dynamics grows, and the plot turns more and more interesting. Well, the last shots either hint at a desire to continue the project, or simply tease the viewer.