Director William Friedkin pulls off another innovative action movie that, unlike his previous films, doesn't utilize fantastic settings like the trademark chases that highlighted The French Connection and To Live And Die In L.A. Instead, most of The Hunted serves as one long chase, as a U.S. Military Special Forces trainer (Tommy Lee Jones) is tasked by the FBI to pursue one of his previous pupils (Benicio Del Toro), who has returned from war psychologically unstable. Friedkin masterfully stretches the pursuit across the entire film, through cities, buildings, woods, underbrush, rivers, rooftops, and even a traffic jam.

While similar in overall concept to 1993's The Fugitive, the Tommy Lee Jones character is far from a duplicate of The Fugitive's Agent Gerard, in fact they're polar opposites. Tommy Lee Jones is subdued and serious, not to be taken lightly for a moment as Friedkin immerses the viewer in the gravity of man-to-man combat.

The Hunted is not for everyone. Gritty, violent, heavy, and sad, Friedkin drives all of it home with his masterful directorial style, as the characters drip in sweat, bleed, pant, tire, and suffer as the pursuit continues to its painful conclusion. Definitely not a date movie. Unless your date is the drill sergeant type.