TV Review: Hunters

This was TV Show #11/20 (#15 overall) that I watched for my 20 for 2020 Challenge. This show was released on Amazon Prime on February 21, 2020.

This was a show that I was really looking forward to this year. I was so excited once I heard about it, and I was really hyping this show up. The premise sounded so interesting and I'm a big fan of Logan Lerman which also helped. And with names like Al Pacino and Jordan Peele attached to it as well, I knew it would be a quality show that I would need to tune in for. But, it ultimately did not meet my expectations at all.

There was a lot of suspension of disbelief that I would have to do while watching the show. Yes, a show about Nazi hunters in 1970s America isn't exactly the most down to earth premise in the first place, but that's not what I'm talking about. There were just a lot of decisions that didn't make sense with what had previously been established in the show. One example that kept happening all the time in the show is either in flashbacks or in the present day (1970s) the Nazis would be established to be ruthless in who and how they would kill. They would kill without hesitation from just the slightest annoyance. Then when it would come to the main characters, they would just let them go. There were just a lot of things that didn't exactly make sense to me, and it was full of inconsistencies.

At times it felt like it was going for a serious spy, vigilante justice type of drama. Then other times it would be trying really hard to be a cheesy 1970s cop/detective movie. It really didn't work at all for me. These moments felt so out of place. They should have committed to one or the other or somehow blended it better. Camp is a very difficult genre to do on purpose. This forced attempt at camp seemed really disingenuous and shallow, and was pretty annoying and cringey to sit through.

The characters on the team were also particularly annoying for me. Some characters were fine, but the rest of the them were just over the top caricatures that were obviously written to try and made a dynamic and bad ass group of characters. It just completely backfired for me by making it feel way too forced. And when characters weren't over the top, they were completely forgettable and bland.

I did really like the colors and the 1970s aesthetic, sets and costumes. I also did have at least a little bit of emotional attachment to the show. I wasn't completely emotionally closed off to the characters and the plot, even if I was annoyed a lot of the time.

I will probably continue with the series and watch the second season when it comes out. But I will definitely be kind of forcing my way through it. I still have hope, but I was just extremely disappointed with the first season. I think it had a lot of potential that was just completely wasted. I'd probably give this show a 4/10. Have you watched this show? I'd love to hear your thoughts down below.