The Hunter’s Prayer (2017)

Directed by: Jonathan Mostow | 91 minutes | action, thriller | Actors: Sam Worthington, Odeya Rush, Allen Leech, Martin Compston, Eudald Font, Stephanie Dooley, Eben Young, Amy Landecker, Mateo Rufino, Claudia Trujillo, Lucy Jackson, Tina Maskell, Kate Dobson, Colin Parry, Dylan Miles-Davis

“Rich kid” Ella Hatto attends a private school in Switzerland. Her parents live in England and she finds her strict life in Montreux very boring. In a rebellious mood, the teenager decides – against the rules of course – to sneak away in the evening to a hip party in the city. That decision costs her dearly, because once she arrives at the party, Ella realizes that she is being hunted. But not by tipsy young men… assassin Lucas has her in his sights.

Ella’s father is the cause of the evil, because if he as a “successful” money launderer had not stolen from his client Richard Addison, there was no reason to go after Ella in retaliation.

Lucas, in turn, is also gripped by Addison, as he tries to suppress his PTSD (due to missions in Iraq) with drugs and has become dependent on the drug. Richard Addison makes grateful use of this. But he failed to take into account one thing: Lucas’s empathy. Is the ex-soldier able to kill the young, lively Ella or does his addiction prove to be stronger?

We know lead actor Sam Worthington (Lucas) from ‘Man on a Ledge’, ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ and ‘Avatar’. His very young co-star Odeya Rush (Ella) from Israel is well on her way to earning her stripes as an actress. She had roles in ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ and ‘The Giver’ where she collaborated with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep. Not the least names in Hollywood and that at 20! In appearance, Odeya is strongly reminiscent of a younger sister of Mila Kunis, something that could hit you worse.

The interaction between the two protagonists in ‘The Hunter’s Prayer’ is reminiscent of ‘Léon’ from time to time, but Luc Besson’s 1994 film is hard to match. An absolute plus of this new work by Jonathan Mostow (“Surrogates” and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”) is that it was actually filmed on location in Europe. As a viewer we travel through England, Switzerland (in reality Austria) and France. That gives the film an enormous dose of credibility, which it can also use given the fairly thin storyline. ‘The Hunter’s Prayer’ is above average action thriller level, but not a masterpiece. Very suitable for sinking down on a Sunday afternoon and then having fun.