The Bounty Hunter

I had heard fairly negative things about The Bounty Hunter but, rather than go with what the critics say, I decided to find out for myself and see if it was really that bad (8% according to Rotten Tomatoes) or whether the critics were just being overly harsh and snobby about a good hearted romantic comedy. You know what? The critics were right.

The Bounty Hunter stars Gerard Butler as Milo Boyd, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, who is asked by his employer, bail bondsmen Sid, to bring in his ex-wife, brilliant journalist Nicole Hurley, who has failed to attend a court hearing for unpaid parking tickets. For Milo, this seems like the dream job but it isn't long until he believes Nicole's story about being onto a hot story which may mean that her life is in danger.

Nope, I'm not buying it either.

Anyway, Milo thinks that his luck is in as he is going to be paid $5000 to take his ex-wife to jail but, after he has been shot at and had his vintage convertible trashed by a gangster in a SUV, he thinks that what began as an easy day's work will be far from that. From the very beginning you know that Milo will succeed and get Nicole to jail, earn his money and she will somehow manage to break the story as they learn to love each other again.

The Bounty Hunter is basically an incompetent remake of Midnight Run, that 1988 action/comedy movie directed by Martin Brest only with Gerard Butler in the Robert De Niro role and Jennifer Aniston playing the Charles Grodin part. The odd thing with Gerard Butler is that he seems to be a man with absolutely no comedic timing yet somehow manages to be funny when he is desperately trying to be serious; Law Abiding Citizen was full of lines that were incredibly amusing even though Butler was trying to be threatening. Watch 300 and tell me that some of those lines aren't unintentionally amusing. Jennifer Aniston, on the other hand, is an actress who can be extremely funny as she rose to fame and fortune in a sitcom, winning an Emmy in the process. Her transition from TV star to film star has not exactly been plain sailing and she can occasionally get 'lost' on the big screen.


With these two actors who, on an off day, have absolutely zero when it comes to comedy, it is doubly unfortunate that they are given a leaden script which is utterly devoid of humour and the direction, by Andy Tennant, does our two leads absolutely no favours whatsoever. If you are looking for one glimmer of fun, one tiny sparkle in this terrible mess of a movie, it comes in the very brief appearances of Christine Baranski doing a Joan Rivers impression. That's how low the film sinks and how desperate I was to look for comedy to justify its post as a romantic comedy.

Unlike Midnight Run, The Bounty Hunter is a baggy mess where you never feel that the two leads are in danger and will, by the end, end up back in love with Milo having completed his task. Not enough is made of the bail bondsmen role as Jeff Garlin is a tremendous comedic actor and if he was given as much screen time as Joe Pantoliano was in Midnight Run, there would be many more laughs than they were in this comedic dud.

Also, I'm not sure whether this was a contractual obligation thing or she thought it would be a great idea, but Jennifer Aniston seem to spend the entire film in low-cut tops ensuring the camera spent many minutes staring straight down her cleavage. Some may think that this is a reason to watch the film, but I just thought it was barrel scrapingly bad taste. This was a massive box office and critical failure and I can see why.

The Disc

Extra Features
Having sat through the film, the last thing I wanted to do was wade through hours of extra features so, for good or ill, the supplementary material is limited to three fairly standard EPK pieces: Making the Bounty Hunter; Stops Along the Road and Rules for Outwitting a Bounty Hunter.

I knew these were going to be bad when the first one, the Making Of, began with Gerard Butler saying how the script was edgy, sharp and utterly hilarious, going on to say that he couldn't put it down and, once he read it, couldn't wait to make the film. There really isn't much material explaining the filmmaking process, only Butler, Aniston and members of the crew talking about what a terrific experience it was, how Butler and Aniston were extremely game in going into a lake and how the car chase and crash was a brilliant thing to do.

There are also a few trailers for other Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases. All of these extra features are in high definition which is just how it should be.


The Picture
For a film only a few months out of the cinema and presented in 1080p high definition, you would expect, nay should expect, the film to look absolutely superb and it does. Bizarrely, Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler appear to have been to the same tanning salon prior to shooting as they are exactly the same shade of brown!

The Bounty Hunter isn't a film that demands a great deal from the cinematographer or the transfer process onto disc for home viewing so it is unsurprising that it looks as good as it does, with vibrant colours, good contrast levels and razor sharp edges.


The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very impressive with crystal clear dialogue, ambient sounds from the rear surrounds and, during the one action sequence, an extremely good soundstage in which the gunshots come from across the room as the tyres are squealing.

Strangely for an SPHE release, there isn't the usual plethora of different language tracks and subtitles (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French track and a Dolby digital 5.1 Thai option, with subtitles in Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Hindi and Thai) but there are decent English HoH subtitles and a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio descriptive track to cater for the hard of hearing and visually impaired.


Final Thoughts
I have reviewed some rubbish in my time, and not just low budget B-movie rubbish, but big budget films with A list stars Bride Wars, Marley & Me and Max Payne spring to mind. The Bounty Hunter joins that list as an utterly dreadful film, bereft of laughs, romantic tension and any threat to the two main characters. The only violence that does take place is against one of Nicole's colleagues, a man who we neither know nor care much about. If you want to watch a film in which a mismatched couple are on the run from a variety of violent individuals whilst trying to get from A to B, rent or buy Midnight Run.