Tracker (2010)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Blistering performances.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Just over an hour and half long, nice story, good acting, nice twists in plot, triffic ending, AMAZING scenery. Go watch it!

"Tracker" finds actor Ray Winstone playing Arjan, a veteran tracker hot on the heels of Kereama (Temuera Morrison), a fugitive on the run. Much of the film consists of a cat and mouse game between predator and prey, Kereama doing his best to outsmart and avoid Winstone's seasoned huntsman. Unusual for such cat and mouse chase movies ("The Hunted", "The Fugitive", "US Marshals", "First Blood", "Chain Reaction" etc) the action takes place in early 20th century New Zealand, director Ian Sharp treating us to scene after scene of jaw-dropping natural scenery, our scampering cast often dwarfed by mountains, waterfalls and vast undulating grasslands (shades of Michael Mann's "Last of the Mohicans").Strictly speaking the movie may not be a western, but as its set in 1903, takes place on the British frontier and possesses a number of the signifiers typical of the western genre (the arrival of civilisation, an expansive wilderness, gunslingers, trackers, cowboys, horsemen, private justice, nomadic wanderers, bearded wild-men, clashes between white men and indigenous locals etc) we might call it a Kiwi Western. The Western genre is itself filled with similar bounty-hunter tales. Some recent ones: "True Grit", "Seraphin Falls", "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" etc.The film tries to be political. Kereama is Maori, a native of New Zealand, and Arjan is a Dutch settler from South Africa, both men at one point persecuted by the British Empire (The Boer Wars and New Zealand Land Wars). The film ends with a bit of three-way atonement, the Dutch, British and Maori learning to forget and forgive their bloody past histories. For the most part, however, the film is stripped down, sparse, wordless, and content to unfold on an archetypal level. Winstone's your classic monosyllabic maverick, his silence masking some deep past pain (the slaughter of his family).The film sports a contrived opening, some hokey character interactions and was shot on a very low budget with a tiny crew. The film's script is at times obvious, but such archetypal tales rely on a certain amount of familiarity. Think of "Tracker" as a very good B-movie genre flick.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

The cat and mouse/hunter-prey theme is pretty well rought but this film adds a convincing human element to a film that might otherwise get caught up in the landscape or action.The early scenes and some of the supporting cast are a little lackluster, and reminded this viewer how difficult it is for New Zealand films to escape a sort of provincialism (for want of a better word) that can often be detected in kiwi films trying to be 'international'. Winstone, Morrison and Andy Anderson as the colonial tracker all stand out in this.The film has plenty of action and fistycuffs and ballyhoo but the focus is firmly on the tension of the hunt and the connection that forms between Winston and Morrison's characters.Without adding a spoiler I will say the ending, while not disappointing, might have been 'more'. You make your own mind up!

I saw Tracker at a preview screening a few days back and wasn't sure what to expect - The idea of Ray Winstone attempting a South African Accent in particular made me nervous. And it does get off to a slowish start. But...As soon as the chase is underway the film really opens out. Moments of genuine threat, tension and some really quite crunchy violence are counterbalanced by a pervading air of melancholy - hunter and hunted have both lost everything - and an increasing dramatic weight to the story as they find common ground whilst engaged in a high risk game of cat and mouse.It's not the most psychologically complicated movie in the world, basically being a boys own action film, but it's made well, with obvious love and attention to detail plus two towering central performances from the leads. And it has a heart. By the time the film reached it's climax I was properly choked up and genuinely on the edge of my seat.And Ray did a good job with the accent after all.