DVD New Release Review: Killing Season

Usually, my movie reviews either take the form of some sort of complaint about the movie under discussion, or, if I end up recommending the movie, it's with some sort of caveat.  So before I get into detail here, let me summarize my feelings about the action drama Killing Season: I loved this movie.  What's more, I highly respected it as well.  That's an important distinction.  Often, we're able to turn our minds off and love entertainment that our intellect acknowledges as wanting.  But that's not the case here; good action movies engage the senses, but Killing Season also engages the mind.

Robert DeNiro stars as retired army colonel Benjamin Ford, who saw action in Serbia.  I won't get into the details of this action, as this is a mystery that gradually unravels throughout the film, but suffice it to say that Ben Ford was deeply affected by the war.  He now lives in a cabin deep in the mountain woods, emotionally and geographically far removed from both civilization in general, and his own son (Milo Ventimiglia).

One day, seemingly by random circumstance, Ben meets Emil Kovac, an outdoorsman played by John Travolta.  Emil helps Ben with some car trouble, Ben repays the favor by inviting Emil back to his cabin, and the two hit it off like chocolate and peanut butter, immediately bonding over a couple of bottles of liquor throughout the night.  The next day, Emil invites Ben to go hunting with him, and that's when all hell breaks loose.

Unbeknownst to Ben, Emil is a former Scorpion, one of the Serbian groups Ben's unit fought in the war.  (Note:  The Scorpions actually did exist in the real-life war.)  It turns out that Emil is out for revenge, and as Ben and Emil spend the day playing a deadly cat-and-mouse game in the wilderness, the mystery of exactly why Emil holds a grudge against Ben in particular gradually becomes clear.

Most of the film, with Emil hunting Ben and Ben attempting to turn the tables on his hunter, is highly reminiscent of Richard Connell's famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game," which has been the inspiration for many cinematic adaptations -- both credited and uncredited, both good and bad -- before.  But a few things make Killing Season stand out.

Characterization of the two main actors is surprisingly complex.  Yes, Ben is clearly the more sympathetic character and Emil clearly the villain, but Ben is hardly blameless in the conflict, and some of Emil's gripes and motivations -- although certainly not his actions -- are justifiable.

The dialogue between Ben and Emil is also note-worthy.  Emil has provided Ben with a walkie-talkie, so the two men remain in constant verbal contact even as Ben is running and hiding.  In a less imaginative action movie, this plot device would be used for nothing more than an opportunity for the two men to goad each other with a lot of trash talk.  That's not the case here, though; these are both highly intelligent men, and as they repeatedly turn the tables on each other -- sometimes Ben is at Emil's  mercy, and sometimes the situation is reversed -- several times, their survival in their fight to the death depends not just on who's the better fighter, outdoorsman, or soldier, but also who's the more persuasive speaker. 

Screenwriter Evan Dougherty allows the characters' intelligence to inform not only their dialogue, but also the nature of the action scenes.  Most action movies, even most good action movies, present every fight scene with a sense of randomness, and who will win each time ultimately depends only on the story needs of the screenwriter.  Not so with Killing Season, in which every single face-to-face encounter between the combatants plays with an undeniable logic based on clearly established characterizations and circumstances.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I've seen action scenes so well thought out and so clearly presented.

Screenwriter Dougherty clearly learned something from Alfred Hitchcock's legendary lectures about the value of suspense versus surprise.  The fact that Emil is actually a villain out for revenge could have taken the form of a plot twist (that would have no doubt been given away by movie trailers) after Ben and Emil's drunken night at Ben's cabin.  This would have been a surprise-less surprise, a useless development.  Instead, however, the movie immediately and clearly informs the viewers exactly who Emil is and that he's up to no good.  Thus, the extended sequence in Ben's cabin, as Emil gets to know more and more about Ben, plays out with delightful cinematic tension and literary irony; we know what Emil's actually up to, but poor Ben has no way of knowing, and isn't that more fun for us?

The fourth and final stand-out in this film is the scenery.  I almost said "the cinematography," but let's be honest, with these gorgeous views of the mountains and the woods, all the cinematographer has to do is know how to point and shoot.  Nearly every frame is breath-taking.  (Even the interiors, whether in Ben's cabin, which evokes both comfort and loneliness, or in an abandoned church, both delights the eye and makes commentary on the characters and action.)

A couple of notes:  The critics hated this movie.  An examination of the complaints, though, reveals how ludicrous they are.  Boyd van Hoeij of The Hollywood Reporter somehow missed all of the glorious scenery that dominates nearly the entire film and suggested that this is best suited for a small screen.  Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News got so distracted by Travolta's accent (which really isn't that bad at all), he didn't bother to pay attention to what the character was saying, and thus missed a huge amount of what makes this movie stand out from those of its formula.  And so on.  All of this is just the latest evidence of a dismaying trend, that critics over and over complain about a lack of intelligence in mainstream cinema, but when a smart movie actually comes out, those same critics attack it.  (My review of Hereafter notes this same trend.)

Also, if you're an IMDb fan, you may note the less than impressive credits of the director and screenwriter.  Daugherty's scripts in development include a remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the third G.I. Joe installment, while Johnson has previously directed the nearly universally (and unfairly) reviled Daredevil.

Don't let that any of these irrelevancies fool you.  Killing Season is a good movie.