The Hunted (1995 film)

The Hunted
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	J. F. Lawton
Produced by	John Davis Gary W. Goldstein William Fay
Written by	J. F. Lawton
Starring	Christopher Lambert John Lone Joan Chen Yoshio Harada Yoko Shimada
Music by	Leonard Eto Motofumi Yamaguchi
Cinematography	Jack Conroy
Editing by	Robert A. Ferretti Eric Strand
Studio	Bregman/Baer Productions Davis Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	February 25, 1995 (1995-02-25)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Japanese
Box office	$6.6 million

The Hunted is a 1995 film written and directed by J. F. Lawton, starring Christopher Lambert, John Lone, and Joan Chen. The score features music by the Japanese taiko troupe Kodō.

Plot

Paul Racine (Christopher Lambert) -- a computer-chip executive from New York—is on one of his many business trips to Nagoya. One night he meets a beautiful and mysterious woman named Kirina (Joan Chen) in the hotel lounge, and ends up having a one-night-stand with her. When he attempts to further the relationship into something more, Kirina implies that she has no future and thanks him for a beautiful night of pleasure and love. Dejected and somewhat confused by her behavior, Paul reluctantly leaves her to be alone as she requests.

Soon after the gaijin leaves her suite, however, she is approached by ruthless killer Kinjo (John Lone) and two other men dressed as ninja. Despite the danger of the situation, Kirina shows no fear and explains that she has accepted her fate. Kinjo, the leader of an entire cult of ninja assassins, is impressed by the woman's courage and grants her final wish by showing her his face. Paul, who had left with the wrong room key, returns and witnesses all of this while hiding in the foyer of the suite. When Kinjo decapitates Kirina (after telling her that she's the first person outside of the cult ever to see his face), the startled and frightened Paul first tries to come to her defense—alerting the three ninjas to his presence—and then tries to flee. Enraged that a witness now knows his face, Kinjo and his two assistants give pursuit and gravely injure Paul by slitting his throat, leaving him for dead lying on the floor of the foyer.

Hours later Paul awakes in a hospital room where he is told that the wound will heal, but he is now the sole witness in an investigation into the cult. He is soon approached by a man named Takeda (Yoshio Harada), who is somewhat of an expert on the ninja and Kinjo in particular. Paul later discovers that Takeda is the last in a long line of samurai and has his own score to settle with Kinjo and the ninja clan. After the ninja attempt to kill Paul at the hospital—killing numerous police officers in the process—Takeda and his wife Mieko (Yoko Shimada) set out to take Paul to their family's stronghold, located on an island several hundred miles away. While leaving the city, however, Takeda uses Paul as bait in an attempt to capture and/or kill Kinjo—instead allowing a party of ninja to slaughter several passenger cars full of people on a train, only to learn that Kinjo was not among the attackers. The ninja leading the attack, however, was Junko, Kinjo's lover, so now the ninja master has an additional reason to kill the protagonists.

While on the island stronghold, Paul spends much time with the blacksmith Oshima, who is constructing a new sword for Takeda (he had broken his own sword following the train incident when police ordered him to leave it as evidence), and the old man teaches him much about both smithing and swordsmanship. He also spends time with Takeda's wife, from whom he learns the history of the two clans' conflict as well as the samurai concepts of courage and honor. During their time together, Mieko grows close to the gentle and compassionate Paul who is much different from her gruff and stern husband, although it is clear that she remains fiercely loyal to Takeda.

Three weeks later, Takeda's new sword is ready, and Paul's injuries have healed considerably. When Paul announces that he wants to leave the island and return home to New York, Takeda has him bound and imprisoned, and sends a message to Kinjo telling him Paul's whereabouts, in order to lure the ninja out of hiding. Takeda's men are eventually overwhelmed by the hordes of ninja who arrive on the island, hidden in Kinjo's boat, but Takeda finally gets the face-off with Kinjo himself that he has been craving all along. The battle is close, but Kinjo eventually stabs Takeda fatally through the torso. Takeda in turn manages to stab Kinjo in the leg a few seconds later, but he collapses shortly thereafter due to the fatal wound he has just received.

As Kinjo is about to kill Mieko, who sits injured and helpless, he is caught by surprise from behind by Paul, whom the blacksmith Oshima had released on Mieko's instructions. Paul stabs Kinjo through the right arm just below the shoulder, but now finds himself face-to-face with his would-be killer, with only the sword in his hand to prevent his death. With his newfound skills, a lot of luck (the injuries to Kinjo's left leg and especially to his right arm, the latter forcing him to fight left-handed), and the assistance of a wounded Mieko, Paul manages to kill Kinjo, cutting off his head.

The movie's final shot shows Paul, Mieko, and the blacksmith Oshima leaving the battle site and starting to head up the hill toward the castle in the distance. Although not explicitly stated, it is implied that Paul and Mieko are now free to be together (since Takeda was killed by Kinjo during the battle), and that Paul may remain in Japan rather than return to New York.

Characters

• Christopher Lambert as Paul Racine
  He is a computer-chip executive from New York who meets a mysterious woman in Nagoya and becomes the sole witness to her murder. He then becomes the target of a ninja clan and their leader.
• Joan Chen as Kirina
  She is a beautiful and mysterious Japanese woman with a price on her head. After a one-night stand with Paul she is murdered by Kinjo.
• John Lone as Kinjo
  He is a master ninja who leads a cult of ninja assassins. His identity and face are a closely guarded secret - one that he will kill to protect.
• Yoshio Harada as Ichirou Takeda
  He is a modern-day samurai and respected expert on ninja in general and Kinjo in particular. He uses Paul to get to Kinjo, but in the end he is defeated by the ninja master.
• Yoko Shimada as Mieko Takeda
  She is the quiet and kind wife of Takeda. She teaches Paul the ways of her people and often acts as intermediary between him and her husband while nursing the American back to health at their family's mountain stronghold.
• Takayuki Kubota as Oshima
  He is a wizened old blacksmith who lives at the Takeda family stronghold. He teaches Paul the art of swordsmith and swordsmanship, as well as a little Japanese along the way.
• Mari Natsuki as Junko
  A female ninja, one of Kinjo's lieutenants, and also Kinjo's lover. She is a formidable fighter and every bit as vicious as Kinjo. Takeda kills her and eight other ninjas after luring them into attacking Paul on a high-speed bullet train. As she dies, she mutilates herself so that no one will be able to see her face in death.
• Tatsuya Irie as Hiryu
  One of the one of the ninja in Kinjo's cult.
• Masumi Okada as Lieutenant Wadikura
  He is the police lieutenant initially in charge of Paul's protection at the hospital. Somewhat disbelieving the American's "ninja story", he assures a nervous Paul that the hospital is surrounded by police and that he has nothing to fear from the ninja. He is soon proven wrong when he and numerous other police officers are killed during the ninja attack on the hospital.

External links

• The Hunted at the Internet Movie Database
• The Hunted at AllRovi
• The Hunted at Rotten Tomatoes