The Hunted

The traditional teacher-pupil dynamic can grow pretty intense over time—spitballs, detentions, murderous rampages. The Hunted skips the regular progression in favor of the last stage. When former commando instructor L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones) is called out of retirement, his mission is to pound the backwoods for former student Aaron Hallam (Benicio Del Toro)—who’s been using his skills for all the wrong reasons. Bonham’s taught Hallam all he knows, and soon a vicious game of cat-and-mouse(-and-murder) ensues. On the DVD, four documentaries deliver a thorough analysis of the story’s every aspect: its origins, its production, its authenticity, and its action sequences. Get behind the cameras for each major action shoot, as they walk through stunts featuring massive car crashes, river dives, and Tommy Lee Jones’ beard. Or you can follow real-life tracker Tom Brown, on whom the story is loosely based, as he reviews weapons-making and survival in the woods (oh, and also how to become a killing machine). Like he says, “The more knowledge you have, the easier it is back here in the bush.” The man clearly loves what he does.