The Hunt, on Apple TV+

Sure, Franck and his cronies are French, but they own guns, hunt, and drink heavily, all at the same time. They are not the only ones. During a Sunday hunting excursion, a rough, somewhat legally questionable hunting party opens fire on Franck’s friends, so they shoot back, killing one of them. It was self-defense, but it ignites a feud worthy of hill country in writer-director Cedric Anger’s six-part The Hunt, which (finally) premieres today on Apple TV+.

The Hunt was delayed several months due to legal issues when the rights holders of Douglas Fairbairn’s novel Shoot and the 1976 film adaptation (starring Cliff Robertson and Ernest Borgnine) objected to similarities. Yes, they share common elements, but if they were truly actionable, hundreds of films should have paid clearance fees to Richard Connell’s estate for The Most Dangerous Game, before it fell out of copyright in 2020.

Regardless, Franck, Xavier, Simon, and Gilles all find themselves in a fire-fight that fateful day. The gang shot first, giving a Xavier a profusely bleeding trump-like bullet wound to the ear, but apparently Franck’s group are more accurate shots. Fearing the consequences of their actions, the ambushed hunters hope to return to their lives and pretend it never happened. However, the outlaws soon start stalking and threatening Franck and friends.

Clearly, Franck is the alpha male of their pack, so the well-heeled hardware store owner takes the lead sleuthing out their rivals. In contrast, Xavier, Simon, and Gilles are all quite sad and rather passive. Leo is easily the next most formidable member of their circle. He did not accompany them on that particular trip, but he immediately rallies behind them. As a medical doctor, he can also treat Xavier’s wounds off the books.

Logically, Franck also has the most to lose, starting with his more sophisticated wife Krystel, Leo’s medical partner. They also have a young son with discipline problems and a teen daughter who just started dating a suspiciously older boyfriend. However, Franck’s greatest vulnerability might be the mistress he has kept out of sight.

Anger’s non-adaptation is a presentable thriller, but a tighter, shorter presentation would have thrilled even more. Frankly, this could and probably should have been a feature, because Anger gives us more than enough scenes of Franck driving on endless errands and tripping around the thugs’ roadhouse. However, the subplot following Krystel’s efforts to find a missing runaway teen pay-off better than expected.

Indeed, both Melanie Laurent and Benoit Magimel are terrific as Krystel and Franck. She has the cerebral sensitivity and he has the swagger, yet somehow, they convincingly forge odd couple chemistry together—at least until he blows it all up. Manuel Guillot also stands out as Gilles, who turns out to have more substance than his slobbiness initially suggests. Although Damien Bonnard and Cedric Appietto give physically impressive performances as Xavier and Simon, who are both in for quite a rough time, their personas are very similar losers, hardly distinguishable from each other.

The majestic mountain vistas add more than mere scenery. It is a reminder of the nature’s wildness, to which all the hunters can relate. Yet, mercifully, nobody ever utters the offensive cliché “toxic masculinity.” To the contrary, survival will depend on facing up to the situation. That will entail violence, which Anger presents in a brutally honest and unvarnished manner. Recommended for fans of gritty naturalistic thrillers in the tradition of A Simple Plan, The Hunt starts streaming today (3/4) on Apple TV+.