Kick-ass journalism

"The Hunting Party" is a film of suspense, action, mystery, politics and drama. It certainly does its best to bestow its message about the ineffectiveness of U.S. intelligence in capturing war criminals. \nBased on an Esquire magazine article by Scott Anderson, "The Hunting Party" follows three journalists in what begins as a Bosnian vacation. Their leader, washed-up-and-perpetually-broke news correspondent Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) hopes to track down the Fox, an elusive Bosnian war criminal who has a $5 million bounty out for his capture. The Fox is loosely based on two real-life war criminals, Dr. Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, who were architects of the Bosnian genocide that occurred in the 1990s. \nAlong for Hunt's ride are Duck (Terrence Howard), Hunt's old friend and an accomplished TV cameraman, and Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg), a novice whose father is high on the network ladder and looking for his big break. The three use CIA contacts and intelligence to get close to the Fox and risk their lives many times in doing so. \nThe trio of actors seems like an odd combination, but they work well together and provide each other with some depth. The story, however, is hardly about them. What reigns is the notion that we will never truly know our government's actions and intentions. \nAs we learn at the conclusion, the film is based on actual events and characters that helped the real-life journalists in their unfounded attempts at catching war criminals. But that is the film's message: CIA foreign affairs have not led to the capture of these war criminals. Perhaps the government doesn't want them caught. Case in point: The phone number on a Bosnian wanted poster lists an 800 number that can only be dialed in the U.S. \nWhile in reality the journalists never came close to catching their target, the film spices up its own climax and makes for an exciting adventure through a politically tangled mess.