Today’s quick review: Killing Season. Eighteen years after the Bosnian War, Emil Kovac (John Travolta), a former Serbian soldier, tracks down Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro), the American soldier who tried to execute him, now living a solitary life in the wilderness. Luring him out into the woods, Emil begins to hunt his old enemy like a wild animal, forcing Benjamin to do the same to survive.
Killing Season is a gritty action movie about the scars of war. Killing Season pits two experienced hunters against one another in a remote patch of forest. What follows is an escalating conflict involving hunting, bow combat, and brutal acts of revenge. Killing Season has potential as a tense survival movie and, to a lesser extent, as a drama. However, the movie’s issues with its tone, pacing, and writing keep it from reaching this potential.
Killing Season gets off to a slow start. The first half-hour is setup, leaving less than an hour for the actual conflict to play out. Even so, the story feels padded, and the movie relies heavily on reversals of fortune to keep Emil and Benjamin from just killing one another. Killing Season also features sadistic, realistic violence that limits its value as escapism.
Killing Season’s strengths are less pronounced than its weaknesses, but they are present. The specters of the Bosnian War do carry some dramatic weight, and the relationship between Benjamin and Emil develops as they confront their shared past. The individual skirmishes are also handled fairly well, even if the mistakes that stitch them together prove to be a bit excessive.
Overall, Killing Season shows modest value as an action movie and glimmers of competence as a drama. However, its clunky plot, its visceral violence, and its mediocre script keep it from truly coming together. Give it a shot if you are an action fan looking for something short, dark, and gritty. Those looking for mindless action or thoughtful drama will be disappointed.
5.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 for a sluggish story, mixed execution, and decent payoff.