4. Genetics And Conspiracy
Genetics and Conspiracy are combined in this point because they go so well together in movies. The Hunter is mainly a drama, but contains especially intriguing progressions for science fiction and the conspiracy thriller, which are both similar to and different from the novel. Genetics has been a staple of science fiction literature since its inception. From Frankenstein to Jurassic Park, the act of playing God is consistently warned about, and for some reason, if youre not being chased by a monster, the lesson just doesnt seem to take as well. The scientific monster is usually the core element holding the storys points together, even when everything else ceases to make sense. Just look at The Beast of Yucca Flats. Even if you dont have manmade monsters to chase you, shadowy organizations still come a dime a dozen in movies and are always ready to serve up conspiracies, from the Parallax Corporation to Quantum. The possibly illicit, far-reaching corporation Red Leaf certainly lends an element of conspiracy to The Hunter. The film version of The Hunter uses conventions from movies of these genres to take the story in an interesting direction. First, by putting the movie in the point of view of Martin, an average contract employee of the villainous Red Leaf, it brings about a fact of life, a take-it-or-leave-it layer of reality that the audience is forced to accept. This is a man who is just doing what he has to do, what everyone does, and if he wont, Red Leaf has other exceptional hunters ready to take his place. This aspect comes from the novel, which has a very matter-of-fact and businesslike point of view toward what Martin does. The audience knows the main goal of the shadowy corporation from the get-go. We get to watch The Lost Worlds Site B before we even get to Jurassic Park. The genetic travesty has yet to begin because, like in many assassin films, we are supposedly at the epicenter of the conspiracy to come. Martin is there to hunt the monster and get things started. Furthermore, the monster isnt even a monster yet. Its a natural creature to be harnessed for humanitys redemption, to be made into something unnatural to save the natural. Its exotic because humanity made it that way. Because of who he is, Martin is ready to protect himself. By having this expert guide the audience, the audience should feel safe, as with Blade in a vampire movie or the Martian Manhunter in an alien invasion story. However, as also is the case with most movie assassins, there is no safety with Martin, because the conspiracy-to-be is already a conspiracy. Martin turns out to be just as lost and overwhelmed by the layers of the world as the family he is boarding with. He finds other traps in the wilderness. He hears disembodied gunshots. He finds out several truths about Jarrah Armstrong that put entirely new perspectives on what he is doing. These aspects certainly up the ante. But they serve that larger setup of a cold world, which in turn prepares the films central message. And the natural monster of the thylacine, although thick in the films atmosphere, mostly stays there, around the frame rather than within it. It is something that Red Leaf is desperately trying to attain, but does not cause conflict on its own. It is what it is, and the humans are the ones causing the conflict from it. This monster both supports and is absent from the structure of the movie, which gets the characters thinking about the larger stakes. In a way, The Hunter is almost like the Waiting for Godot of cryptid thrillers. When will the monster be revealed? Again, also a convention, but an interesting convention to use, and one that organically supports what the movie is trying to do.