‘Hunt For The Wilderpeople’ Review: The Perfect Movie To Watch During Quarantine!

Since Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi has become a known name in the film industry. He even won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his newest movie: Jojo Rabbit. Last week, it also was confirmed that he is going to direct and co-write the new Star Wars movie. So the man has quite a run, but we take a look back at his fourth feature film — Hunt for the Wilderpeople — and show you why it’s the perfect movie, to watch during quarantine.

Ricky (Julian Dennison), a troubled, 13 years old foster child from the city gets adopted by Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and Hector (Sam Neill), two reclusive country folks, who live near the bushes. After a row of events Ricky and his foster uncle find themselves on a national manhunt through the bushes of New Zealand, where they have to learn how to get along and more importantly try to survive in the wilderness.

The cast is great in their particular roles. Julian Dennison has the charisma for comedic scenes, but he is also great at playing a character who has this fake-coolnes throughout the movie. Sam Neill as the grumpy old man Hector, who is constantly annoyed by Ricky and just wants to return back to normal, but also trains Ricky in a father-figure like way, how to survive in the bushes. Rima Te Wiata plays the cringey, but also loving and caring Bella and she nails the role, even her comedic scenes are hilarious. The “villain” of the movie Paula is played by Rachel House, who shines with her dialogue with Ricky or Andy (Oscar Kightley), the police man who is constantly at her side, even if he doesn’t do a lot.

The best part about the movie is probably Waititi’s directing. This man is so great in doing dialogue and visually based comedy. He knew exactly what the actors had to do, how they should talk and react and especially the dialogue is so greatly written, that people probably would laugh just by reading the screenplay, which he adapted from the book Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump. He also has a little role, which was hilarious.

The technical aspects are great. The cinematography by Lachlan Milne (Stranger Things), who is also the cinematographer of Waititi’s upcoming movie Next Goal Wins, shines with a lot of wide shots of the beautiful landscape of New Zealand, which just makes you want to go outside and experience an adventure all by yourself. It feels so open and free, that it really manages to deliver this feeling of freedom, which many people may desire during these times. Some comedic scenes also only work, with the angle the camera has in that scene. The editing is fantastic. It’s fast paced, sharp and also the main factor why the visual comedy works, for example through fast zoom in close-ups. It does remind you a bit of an Edgar Wright movie. Two of the three editors also worked with Waititi, before on What We Do in the Shadows or later on Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit and you do notice that. Every cut feels intentional and has a reason, there is no wasted or unnecessary scene.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a perfect movie to watch during quarantine. The open areas and beautiful landscape of New Zealand, captured in the great cinematography, deliver the feeling of freedom and the closeness to nature. Combined with a great cast and great humour, this movie will make you have a fantastic time, while watching it.

4/5

What do you guys think? Have you seen Hunt for the Wilderpeople? If so, did you like it? Let’s discuss everything in the comments down below.