THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
IF YOU'RE IN the habit of saying no to ninja, chances are you will find ``The Hunted'' totally resistable. For the fans, though, and even for a few possible convertees, this handsome and briskly paced entry is more ambitious than most of its genre.
It makes much of the fact that it is photographed in modern Japan - including an exciting bullet-train ride that culminates in mayhem.
More notably, it has a pounding, exciting musical score, composed by Mofofumi Yamaguchi and performed by Kodo. Indeed, the music is so exciting that the film itself often has trouble matching it.
Christopher Lambert (he with the brooding eyes) plays a successful American businessman visiting Nagoya, Japan. He meets Joan Chen, clad in a telltale red dress, in the hotel bar. She's suitably mysterious. After a one-night affair he inadvertently witnesses her assassination by Kinjo, billed as something like the Lone Ranger of Japan - only bad. He's the masked man of legend. No one has seen his face, until now.
Lambert goes on the lam, pursued by all the forces of Makato, an ancient ninja cult that is obviously up to no good. He's adopted by a stern-faced samurai warrior (Yoshiro Harada) who seems to want to protect him but actually is using him to settle a centuries-old feud between the ninja and the samurai.
The plot is pretty silly, and so are most of the lines, but there is some degree of style. J.F. Lawton, who wrote the scripts for ``Pretty Woman'' and ``Under Siege,'' makes his directorial debut. He clearly thinks that quick editing will hide everything. It does, in fact, hide much.
Lambert, after an auspicious debut as Tarzan, has largely been limited to the dreadful ``Highlander'' series - movies that used time warps to warped excess. It is surprising, then, that he is so subdued here. He even cowers in a corner during the big action scene aboard a train. Vulnerability is a new stance for him, and one that suggests he might even someday become a real actor. It's too bad that in the last reel, he has to play the usual game by learning, unbelievably, to suddenly use the sword.
John Lone, shedding all those gorgeous gowns from ``M. Butterfly,'' plays the evil Kinjo with clenched teeth, snarling all the way.
It's only 90 minutes long, which is about 30 minutes too long, but modern-day Japan and the drum rolls keep us kicking along.
Action fans will find that it delivers. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Christopher Lambert is a Western businessman fighting for his life
in Japan in ``The Hunted.'' Yoshio Harada, far right, also stars.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Hunted''
Cast: Chistopher Lambert, Joan Chen, John Lone, Yoshio Harada
Director and Writer: J. F. Lawton
Music: Mofofumi Yamaguchi
MPAA rating: R (violence, some nudity)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square in Chesapeake; Circle 4 and Main
Gate in Norfolk; Lynnhaven Mall and Surf-N-Sand in Virginia Beach
by CNB