Henry Cavill finds it refreshing to play a more human role instead of the typical superhero ones that seem to fit his physique better; he grounds the story and makes Night Hunter likable.
Right now, Henry Cavill is kind of at a crossroads. The handsomely framed main actor performed admirably in Mission Impossible: Fallout, was ok in this film, and hasn’t done much since. In the Enola Holmes films, he plays a second banana Sherlock Holmes, and in his frequent appearances as Superman in different cameo roles, he is unimpressive. It’s safe to argue that Cavill needs a vacation to revitalize his flagging career after Argylle, especially since he is now developing a main role in a Guy Ritchie movie.
In the occasionally captivating thriller written and directed by David Raymond, he plays Marshall, a Minnesota police officer in a difficult situation; he apprehends Simon (Brendan Fletcher), a pedophile who has imprisoned a girl at an undisclosed location—a situation that has been seen before in Dirty Harry from 1971. Ben Kingsley plays the girl’s vigilante father, who has previously used his daughter as bait to trap and castrate sex offenders. Marshall must strike a balance between the demands of his commissioner boss, Stanley Tucci, and psychologist Rachel, Alexandra Daddario, as she tries to understand Simon.
There are problems with the way mental health is portrayed in the way that Simon is described, even though a late twist alters the meaning of his behavior. The plot of Night Hunter is similar to the closing scenes of David Fincher’s Se7en, with the police trying to piece together the intricate workings of a sick mind following his capture. Night Hunter is an all-star, not quite there movie that ends up being a streaming filler. It has a few problems of its own, with some of the sequences being strangely cut and not always landing squarely.
However, Raymond has put together an excellent ensemble, all of whom turn in strong performances, with Tucci, Kinsley, and especially the ever-dependable Daddario turning up the heat. Henry Cavill finds it refreshing to play a more human role instead of the typical superhero ones that his physique seems to call for. He grounds the story and makes Night Hunter enjoyable, albeit not quite as impressive as this cast of talent would suggest.
