Pretty Good

Admirable film.

Absolutely Fantastic

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The Last Hunter is Italian director Antonio Margheriti's take on the Vietnam flick - and as you would expect, it goes straight for the jugular and removes all the soul searching stuff found in films like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter and the result is...entertaining, but underwhelming. Any depth is replaced by an array of violence and bloodshed, and that means that the film entertains on the surface but doesn't do much more than that...although I can't condemn it too much since I'm not the biggest fan of the 'great' Vietnam movies anyway. The plot is just as flimsy as you would expect and we focus on an American soldier. He's been given a mission to go deep behind enemy lines and destroy a radio transmitter that is sending out demoralising messages to the American soldiers, telling them words to the effect of 'go home and give up fighting someone else's war'. He picks up some allies along the way and of course gets involved in more than his fair share of fighting.The film stars David Warbeck who does well as the grizzled American soldier at the centre of the film. It's clear that he wasn't the most important thing as far as Antonio Margheriti was concerned, however, as he's far more interested in packing as much violence as possible into the film, and he does a good job with that; as shown by the many fight scenes. Every fight scene in the film is full on and very bloody; and the special effects are fairly realistic also, which adds to the credibility of the film. However, it all comes down to the fact that the film doesn't have much of a point. Of course sitting through the action is entertaining but there's no reason to really care for it and the film drags on numerous occasions as a result. It all boils down to an ill-advised and really rather silly twist at the end...but hey, I can't say I was expecting anything clever. Overall, The Last Hunter might be of interest to anyone who enjoys low Italian rip offs and/or war movies, but anyone hoping for a great Vietnam flick is in for a disappointment.

Mr. Antonio Margheriti, the uncrowned KING of Italian rip-offs, and his dynamic duo of charismatic actors David Steiner and John Steiner (though the latter only in a small role this time) strike again with this raw and excessively violent war-exploitation flick. Clearly inspired by the success of "The Deer Hunter" and a variety of other Hollywood films about the Vietnam War, but "The Last Hunter" goes straight for shocks, fast-paced and explosive action sequences and macho behavior instead of focusing on story-building, character drawings or – God forbid - underlying messages about the insanity of warfare. This film just loves the war in 'Nam and all dialogs like "Damn this country" or "I hate this awful war" are obviously insincere. Margheriti also couldn't resist providing his film with genuine horror aspect! The make-up effects are extremely gore (gorier than the ones in my horror movies for sure), with images of a soldier missing an eyeball, disembowelment after bombings and the severely decomposing bodies from dead parachutists falling from treetops. The battle sequences are long and exhilarating whilst the actual plot is thin and clichéd. In other words, just the way we like our Italian exploitation dish served! Captain Henry Morris (Warbeck) is assigned with the important mission of blowing up a Vietcong radio transmitter, located far behind enemy lines, which broadcasts demoralizing reports and encourages the American soldiers to throw away their guns and go back home. Morris' squad, which also includes a female report, gets killed and he's taken to a prisoner's camp for some inhumanly cruel torture. And yet, even whilst enduring the most excruciating pains, Morris intends to complete his mission, if it were only as a last tribute to all the friends and loyal soldiers he lost. Admittedly the script features every single Vietnam feature in the book, but hey, at least "The Last Hunter" is never boring and actually one of the most thrilling war movies ever made. You don't look for deep dialogs or complex characterizations here, just a lot of blood and delightful stereotypes. The "twist" at the end is extremely implausible and suddenly gives a somewhat stupid feeling to the whole movie. Truly ironic how the only remotely original twist in the entire script is also the most ludicrous one. Personally, I still like Margheriti's Indiana Jones rip offs better ("Hunters of the Golden Cobra", "Ark of the Sun God") and his ultimate masterpiece remains "Cannibal Apocalypse", but "The Last Hunter" is undoubtedly great low-brain entertainment and comes highly recommended!

Although I'm a fan of the war movie genre I hardly could get through this. This movie has 20 minutes of good, believable and tense scenes - the rest is really cheap and not even entertaining. I trusted some of the reviews here and bought the DVD unfortunately. Do not waste your money on this one - see the real A.N.Redux instead. ... not to mention the STRANGE soundtrack (No - you will NOT love it)!

This film is one of the most entertaining Vietnam flicks ever produced. Truly excellent opening 10 minute scene, followed by a 40 minute lull. Picks up toward the middle though and keeps on chuggin along. Great cast, excellent gore effects, awesome explosions, cool claustrophobic camerawork, and a lot of funny dialogue make this well worth the 90 minutes. The poor Pan+Scanning is easy to forgive with a couple viewings. Owes more than a lot to APOCALYPSE NOW and THE DEER HUNTER, but honestly, who cares? Grade A entertainment.