The Wild Hunt is dark. The LARPers for the most part come across as craven, reminiscent of Vikings, nordic warriors and pub-dwellers alike.The lovers are morose throughout. The actors in the background were largely mute. The real gems of acting come from the King, the Viking leader and Shaman. But these were inconsistent.The film stood out because it evoked emotion and worry throughout, the soundtrack created mood and the well delivered tirades of screaming and begging encompassed tangible fear. The question of, "How far will they go?" really carried the film for me. Not wanting to have the dark side of humanity revealed but far too intrigued to stop watching.The cinematography was realistic, with the tone and music really pinpointing the despair of being locked in a false reality at the behest of others.There were moments where the film lulled to a crawl but this same failure, that of dragging time, really allowed the dramatic moments longevity.While I didn't enjoy all of the movie, I give it 7/10 for the innovation and emotions it evoked.

I checked this out after I read some good reports from festival screenings. I really can't see the appeal of Live Action role-playing, so the film's greatest achievement is that it held my interest at all. I enjoyed the initial comedy of the absurd situations the non-playing lead character finds himself in, once he has barged his way into this make-believe environment. The plot shift and changes in tone from then on, which keeps it unpredictable. The film is extremely well put together, especially for having been made on such a low budget. The cinematography and the unusual soundtrack are first class. There is some genuinely beautiful and haunting imagery, especially once the hunt gets underway.For me the biggest problem with The Wild Hunt is that at its heart this is supposed to be a love story, but we never really learn much about the characters or their relationships. It's about a guy on a 'quest' to win back his girlfriend but she remains a cypher from the beginning to the end. I never understood her motivations at all, she just came across as unstable and selfish and therefore I never invested in what's at stake for him. The other characters are underdeveloped as well and as someone who can't relate to the idea of LARP I would have liked to know more about what draws people to it other than the obvious implication that some do it to escape their real life problems.

When I first saw the movie "Role models" there is a group of people that is so into role-playing they do it in real life. All dressed up with plastic or wooden weapons that looks like it's a very cheap version of the characters from role-playing video games. Which kept me wondering if people actually really do participate in these types of events, sort of reminded me of Medieval Times except they don't get payed to act that way. This movie is basically about those types of people from the movie "Role Models" except the people that participate take it way more seriously. It's what they call a live-action role play game. This is just one of those movies you have to at least play some RPG games or watched those "Lord of the Rings" to get the entertainment value out of it, at least get the most out of it. The story here is very simple but the premise of the movie is what makes this movie really good. I am pretty sure everything in this movie is over exaggerated and some may complain about this, but I personally thought that was what made this movie entertaining to watch. I didn't know anything about Mark A. Krupa, but he is what made the movie entertaining the most and stole every scene as Bjorn Magnusson. The female lead in this movie is annoying to watch, but it's her role so it's alright and is what progresses the plot. The female lead acts like she is a cocaine addict but she isn't a addict which makes her even more annoying to watch. Anyways this is a Canadian independent film that gets more entertaining as it progresses.7.4/10

The problem with current cinema in a nutshell: it is considered cool and edgy for movie characters to be constantly irritated, annoyed, offensive and swearing. The problem with this movie in particular: people who engage in live role-playing do so because it's fun. They don't go around constantly using f-words and c-words and taking things too seriously and not seriously enough at the same time, as shown in this movie (I am not a live role-player, but I have friends who are). "Artistic license" it may be, but that doesn't stop it from also being a betrayal of what live role-playing is really like. Yes, a betrayal: some audiences, not knowing how distant this portrayal of it is from the real thing, will be scared away from live role-playing by this movie. It's all but saying that role-playing will lead to uncontrollable violence - a repetition of ignorant, conservative, long out-of-date fears about young people's love for comics, video games and role-playing.I realize the story is trying to take things to a different level; speculating about minor conflicts getting out of hand and turning into deadly serious major ones, and that's fine. There are many good ideas here and very nice directing, but in my view it should have been handled very differently. It just never feels like something that could happen, or like a good representation of live role-playing. Many plot developments seem contrived (like Lyn suddenly getting sick, and the car that won't start), and the way most of the characters hate each other is completely contrary to real live role-playing situations, even though the latter certainly has its share of intrigues and internal politics. But in this movie the characters (esp. Shaman Murtagh) are just not believable. They range from too angry and obnoxious to nastily self-ridiculing. The story itself goes into such extremes that we are asked to suspend our disbelief beyond any bounds of credibility. I wonder which audience this is made for. Is it an attempt to thematize the danger of fantasy being confused with reality? Or is it just an excuse to escalate the pretend-violence into real violence? I, for one, don't think it works.Of course, I'm judging this from how similar it is to real live role-playing. Maybe the writer and director didn't care about that, but wanted to do something different. All right. But people involved in live role-playing are the ones who will mainly and mostly want to see this movie, and therefore one might argue that it ought to be truer to their experience. If the writer and director achieved what they set out to do, good for them. For me, however, this was a disappointment and in bad taste. It should either have been more tasteful (some may not be aware of it, but great drama *is* possible without copious profanity, as any student of literature will know) or much more like a comedy. After all, live role-playing is about fun. This movie undermines and takes away that fun. Maybe it would be an interesting and innovative movie if there already existed twenty movies done in the proper spirit, but since there doesn't, this is not what people who understand live role-playing is looking for.For those like me who may have been disappointed with this movie, I recommend watching All's Faire In Love instead. A similar idea, but done as a comedy, and a very effectively entertaining one.5 out of 10.