The most enjoyable part of this film was laughing at how ridiculous it is.
There is no spoiler by telling you that a group of people are out in the wilderness, and there is a bear out there too. And the bear systematically kills people off.
And people do what they always do in dead teenager movies--they split up. Have none of them ever seen a dead teenager movie to know that you aren't supposed to do that? (but this movie is just a collection of old plot devices, including a Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid jumping off a cliff into the water to escape thingy).
But it was the ridiculous aspects of the film that made it impossible to experience any tension. Billy Bob Thornton is a "hunter" who walks around in the mountainous woods WITH HIS HORSE in tow. What's with the horse? He is always close to the group of four people, and they not only don't have a horse but are carrying a woman who is injured. You can't even ride the thing in those types of mountainous areas. He won't let the injured woman ride his horse because he's hunting the bear (nice guy) although, as I say, he doesn't move any faster with the horse than they do without it. The woman with a stake through her leg might have appreciated the ride.
And the bear? I think Bart the Bear ought to sue his agent. He's made to look slow and stupid. The people, even carting along their wounded mate, CAN OUTRUN HIM! A grizzly bear can cover 35 mph going uphill or downhill, but this thing can't get up to even a few feet an hour. He is often shown about 100 feet behind the group, but somehow they outrun him.
Not only that, but the big game hunter, a sheriff's deputy, the sheriff, and a guy who practically lived in these woods with his father can't hit the broad side of a barn with their rifles. Even when the bear is only 100 feet away they keep hitting branches and rocks. Really, they deserved to die. But unfortunately, they didn't--not die that is. Bart does, which you can probably guess, and he shouldn't. He's the most likable one in the movie....even if he is kind of slow.
Then there is the hearing impaired naturalist who is out hiking without any equipment, and then when she sees the bear manages to lose her bear spray. And get caught in her own snare, which she had just set. But, no matter, three sets of people manage to find her in an area the size of Rhode Island, and take her to safety.
The best advice in the movie, advice you'll want to heed, was "don't shoot a bear if it's heading toward you." Instead, you are supposed to shoot it from its side. So, do you yell real loud: "HEY BEAR, PLEASE TURN SIDEWAYS?" The great stupid hunter, Billy Bob, has three shots at this bear lumbering at him at less than 1 mph and misses all three! All three! (but it might have been different if the bear had been more cooperative and had turned sideways).
For the bad guys, and the nonessential guys, the bear tears them apart within seconds. When it's the good guys, they can fight and wrestle for minutes with no apparent harm. And kill him with a knife, just like Davy Crockett, who kil't him a b'ar when he was only three. A knife against a grizzly? One swat and you'd be dead, but not our heroes!
(In all fairness, it's our fault. When we went to return a movie to the kiosk it was filled, and we couldn't return it unless we rented another one. This is what we got)
There is no spoiler by telling you that a group of people are out in the wilderness, and there is a bear out there too. And the bear systematically kills people off.
And people do what they always do in dead teenager movies--they split up. Have none of them ever seen a dead teenager movie to know that you aren't supposed to do that? (but this movie is just a collection of old plot devices, including a Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid jumping off a cliff into the water to escape thingy).
But it was the ridiculous aspects of the film that made it impossible to experience any tension. Billy Bob Thornton is a "hunter" who walks around in the mountainous woods WITH HIS HORSE in tow. What's with the horse? He is always close to the group of four people, and they not only don't have a horse but are carrying a woman who is injured. You can't even ride the thing in those types of mountainous areas. He won't let the injured woman ride his horse because he's hunting the bear (nice guy) although, as I say, he doesn't move any faster with the horse than they do without it. The woman with a stake through her leg might have appreciated the ride.
And the bear? I think Bart the Bear ought to sue his agent. He's made to look slow and stupid. The people, even carting along their wounded mate, CAN OUTRUN HIM! A grizzly bear can cover 35 mph going uphill or downhill, but this thing can't get up to even a few feet an hour. He is often shown about 100 feet behind the group, but somehow they outrun him.
Not only that, but the big game hunter, a sheriff's deputy, the sheriff, and a guy who practically lived in these woods with his father can't hit the broad side of a barn with their rifles. Even when the bear is only 100 feet away they keep hitting branches and rocks. Really, they deserved to die. But unfortunately, they didn't--not die that is. Bart does, which you can probably guess, and he shouldn't. He's the most likable one in the movie....even if he is kind of slow.
Then there is the hearing impaired naturalist who is out hiking without any equipment, and then when she sees the bear manages to lose her bear spray. And get caught in her own snare, which she had just set. But, no matter, three sets of people manage to find her in an area the size of Rhode Island, and take her to safety.
The best advice in the movie, advice you'll want to heed, was "don't shoot a bear if it's heading toward you." Instead, you are supposed to shoot it from its side. So, do you yell real loud: "HEY BEAR, PLEASE TURN SIDEWAYS?" The great stupid hunter, Billy Bob, has three shots at this bear lumbering at him at less than 1 mph and misses all three! All three! (but it might have been different if the bear had been more cooperative and had turned sideways).
For the bad guys, and the nonessential guys, the bear tears them apart within seconds. When it's the good guys, they can fight and wrestle for minutes with no apparent harm. And kill him with a knife, just like Davy Crockett, who kil't him a b'ar when he was only three. A knife against a grizzly? One swat and you'd be dead, but not our heroes!
(In all fairness, it's our fault. When we went to return a movie to the kiosk it was filled, and we couldn't return it unless we rented another one. This is what we got)