Films like this don't seem to garner much favor by IMDb viewers, judging by this one's low score as I write this. I think that has to do with pacing and the fact that this isn't an action film per se, but more of a psychological cat and mouse game between the two protagonists. This was my first look at Ray Winstone and Temuera Morrison, and I thought both acquitted themselves well throughout their challenging ordeal. Arjan van Diemen (Winstone) eventually comes to respect and trust the man who's accused of murder (Morrison), and decides to thwart the posse dead set to capture him.The one thing you have to overlook though, is how any human being can withstand the brutal punishment both men suffered during their physical bouts against each other, and the rugged terrain they encountered while tumbling down hillsides and getting thrown around in bruising rapids. Stuff like that is never properly addressed, and you have to take it on faith that bodies were built to handle that kind of abuse.I will say that seeing how Kereama survived was more of a twist than the one with van Diemen mutilating himself to save the Maori. After the fact one might question how he hid the disfigurement from the rest of the posse, but it did make for a story resolution that cemented Arjan's admiration for a man who's honor and life was at stake, and who could have killed him at various times during the chase, but didn't. Well done and nicely filmed.

The opening titles give the clue. All the finance has come from one state funded quango or another. This means one thing only: Every money making production company on earth has passed on the script. With good reason. It's lame. The photography and locations are lovely but the locations are nonsense. The act on which the plot depends happens in a port of arrival to NZ. The rest of the action, which is in a day's walk of said port is in the mountains and fjords of the SW S Island. That is impossible. Then we come to casting. My first impression was, Why cast Ray Winstone as a Boer if he can't get within a mile of the accent? After about 20 minutes the answer is clear. Nobody else would do it. It's one of the weakest scripts I've ever suffered. Perhaps Ray doesn't gamble as responsibly as he would have us believe.

"Tracker" finds actor Ray Winstone playing Arjan, a veteran tracker hot on the heels of Kereama (Temuera Morrison), a fugitive on the run. Much of the film consists of a cat and mouse game between predator and prey, Kereama doing his best to outsmart and avoid Winstone's seasoned huntsman. Unusual for such cat and mouse chase movies ("The Hunted", "The Fugitive", "US Marshals", "First Blood", "Chain Reaction" etc) the action takes place in early 20th century New Zealand, director Ian Sharp treating us to scene after scene of jaw-dropping natural scenery, our scampering cast often dwarfed by mountains, waterfalls and vast undulating grasslands (shades of Michael Mann's "Last of the Mohicans").Strictly speaking the movie may not be a western, but as its set in 1903, takes place on the British frontier and possesses a number of the signifiers typical of the western genre (the arrival of civilisation, an expansive wilderness, gunslingers, trackers, cowboys, horsemen, private justice, nomadic wanderers, bearded wild-men, clashes between white men and indigenous locals etc) we might call it a Kiwi Western. The Western genre is itself filled with similar bounty-hunter tales. Some recent ones: "True Grit", "Seraphin Falls", "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" etc.The film tries to be political. Kereama is Maori, a native of New Zealand, and Arjan is a Dutch settler from South Africa, both men at one point persecuted by the British Empire (The Boer Wars and New Zealand Land Wars). The film ends with a bit of three-way atonement, the Dutch, British and Maori learning to forget and forgive their bloody past histories. For the most part, however, the film is stripped down, sparse, wordless, and content to unfold on an archetypal level. Winstone's your classic monosyllabic maverick, his silence masking some deep past pain (the slaughter of his family).The film sports a contrived opening, some hokey character interactions and was shot on a very low budget with a tiny crew. The film's script is at times obvious, but such archetypal tales rely on a certain amount of familiarity. Think of "Tracker" as a very good B-movie genre flick.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

Archetypal Londoner, Ray Winstone plays Arjan Van Diemen, a staunchly anti-British character, who fought against the Brits in the Second Boer War. He's come to New Zealand to confront them for scorching his farm and murdering his family. Instead of receiving retribution or an apology, he is invited to track a Maori on the run for the (false) charge of killing a British soldier. The reward is 100 sovereigns alive, 25 dead. The casting director can't have had many names in the hat for the role of Kereama, so Kiwi Temuera Morrison seems stereotypical. But for a man who I still remember for T.V.'s 'Shortland Street', Morrison more than holds his own. Winstone's presence doesn't faze him. The plot ensures he is integral and not just a brown-skinned irrelevance, and he demonstrates an impressive Maori lexicon to prove it. It's not a natural pairing, but they have unmistakable chemistry. Both are educated, worldly and principled. They have a mutual respect. Winstone's rotund frame (he's a Boer, but looks more like a bear) suits his weathered character in a way that it hasn't in his recent tough-guy roles. To track Kereama he has to be agile, self-sufficient and able to summon his skills as a South African bushman. He shows in a gritty, punch-up that he still has the moves. And he pulls off a convincing accent. What stood out for me was New Zealand. Cinema has scarcely photographed a more magnificent land. The mountain ranges, woodlands, lakes and rivers are a pleasure to behold. You can watch 'Tracker' just for the scenery; it really is that attractive. What spoiled it was the constant to-ing and fro-ing. Van Diemen loses Kereama every time he catches him, though their constant reintroductions allow them to size each other up a bit more. Kereama expostulates 'We both hate the British'. 'I don't hate the British', Van Diemen defies, 'I hated my God, for a time'. I didn't understand why Van Diemen accepts the task. Money can't be his motivation because that would undermine his case for what the British did to him. Winstone's passion didn't come through for me, and Morrison's sudden embracing of Maori customs and incantations, including a flaccid enactment of the Haka while on the run seemed forced.There's some fun action, however, set against beautiful, sweeping vistas, but ultimately I wasn't moved enough to believe in the characters or their motivations. www.scottishreview.net