I had seen promos for Amazon’s “Hunters” for several weeks, including the one with the nun in a black habit pulling and leveling a pistol with a silencer. When a Facebook friend gave a positive review and raved about Al Pacino’s performance, I decided to check it out. “Hunters” gets a mixed review from me. I’ve only watched the first two of the 10 episodes by the talented Jordan Peele. Visually it is terrific at times and the humor is generally on the mark. But it lacks cohesiveness and the protagonist seems whiny and conflicted about being a Nazi killer Come on, everyone knows where this is going to go. Don’t make it so painful to get there. “Hunters” are a Buckaroo Banzaiesque collection of people who are tracking down Nazis in America in the 1970s. As the Hunters are picking them off, it becomes apparent they are uncovering a larger Nazi plot. An FBi agent is investigating the death of a NASA scientist who is a former Nazi and the agent begins to figure out that someone is targeting U.S. Nazis. Meanwhile, the Nazis are targeting Jews and the FBI agent. That’s where I’m at with the end of episode 2 and I don’t think I’m going any further. One problem is that parts of implausible. Siskel and Ebert had great a couple of great discussions about this back in the day. When I watch a James Bond movie I have no problem with suspension of disbelief that a car and turn into a submarine or that a bad guy can throw a hat and cut off a statue’s head and kill someone. But in watching “Hunters,” there’s a scene where a Nazi scientist is served poetic justice with a Xylon B gassing. Part of me applauds them for the clever plot twist. But the OCD part of me, with my meager knowledge of hydraulics, knows this is just not possible. So I spent the rest of the first episode and the second episode trying to imagine how this could happen. When you think of targeting Jewish killings, you think of Mossad and how efficient they operate. Mossad is generally linked to the 1990 killing of Gerald Bull, a Canadian helping Iraq develop a Supergun, a huge cannon that can fire intercontinental projectiles. Someone shot Bull three times in the back and twice in the head with a silenced pistol. It was done quickly. There were no witnesses. Much more direct and efficient than poison gassing. Not as poetic, so maybe not as good for fiction. I don’t know. My OCD gets away with me. Peele at times seems to be aping Quentin Tarantino. Instead of a Dick Dale guitar playing “Misirilou” it is a Dick Dale-style guitar playing “Hava Nagila.” At times the color palate mimics 1970s TV. Overall the photography is excellent. Pacino is good in this role but I don’t share my Facebook friend’s enthusiasm. The good guys are generally a boring lot. It’s the villains who chew up the screen. Again, like Tarantino using Christoph Waltz. It’s not bad and it has its moments, but I have so many other great shows queued up to watch I don’t have time for “Hunters.”
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