Floundering hunters

78-hunters

After the fall of the Third Reich, the US recruited hundreds of Germany’s finest and brightest—some of whom were tied to war crimes and even the Holocaust—to stimulate its scientific and technical advancement. Under a covert operation, now known as Operation Paperclip, these Germans (and their families) were given new identities, and their crimes were whitewashed. Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of German war crimes, was a ‘Nazi hunter’ who sought to bring to book the criminals, who had escaped to various countries; he had the help of Israeli, Austrian and other governments.

An Amazon Original, Hunters takes inspiration from both these historical aspects to come up with a story of a band of Nazi hunters, led by Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino), who are out to bring down the Nazis that Uncle Sam brought. Unlike Wiesenthal, who took legal recourse to bring the war criminals to justice, Offerman believes “the best revenge is not living well, but revenge itself”. The Nazis meanwhile, are busy building a Fourth Reich in the US, and it is up to this gang of Dirty Dozen meets Avengers meets Inglourious Basterds—a teen, a nun, an actor, an activist, an ex-soldier, a weapon expert couple—to stop them.

Created by David Weil and produced by horror expert Jordan Peele, Hunters goes all out to be a vengeance drama with the Holocaust being set as the ‘origin story’ of these avengers. Although the premise of a group of Holocaust victims setting out on a hunt held a lot of promise, Hunters settles for cheap thrills, a predictable plot and confused storytelling. Often, the show-runners seem to depend on chance instead of logical and coherent turn of events.

While Weil may have drawn inspiration from the travails of his parents during the Nazi era, Hunters looks more at the physical aspect of the trauma than at the psychological scars inflicted by dispossession, loss and torture. The show gives enough attention to the myths and traditions of the Jewish community, but when it comes to the villains, it makes them caricature-ish. While there is an Anton Chigurh-like hitman out to hunt the Hunters, there is hardly any explanation of his belief system. The rest of the villains, except Biff Simpson (a menacing Dylan Baker), are often one-dimensional.

Despite the ordinariness of Hunters, Pacino excels. There are a few moments when he gets into his fiery element, and even when he is merely being around to be the Nick Fury of the team, he is a delight to watch. Logan Lerman, who plays Jonah Heidelbaum, the gifted teen of the team, is another standout performance; so is Baker.

Of course, the show is grand in terms of style and cinematography. But these alone cannot salvage Hunters as it flounders on the front that matters most—a strong plot.