L.T. Bonham is a civilian employee of the U.S. Army who trains elite forces to stalk, track, hunt and kill. His men learn how to make weapons out of shards of rock, and forge knives from scrap metal. But he has grown disenchanted with the game of teaching people how to kill so he has quit the service and moved to Canada. There he lives in relative peace and works for the forest service as a ranger. But when a series of murders happens to some hunters in Oregon the FBI is desperate for his skills to track the killer. The killer is a cool professional who left little trace of his crime gutting his victims with a knife while they were armed with high power weapons. Soon Bonham learns that he might have trained this particular killer. The student is Aaron Hallam who fought in Kosovo in 1999 and had experiences there that warped him. He has become so battle stressed he can no longer tell real from the war and duty to his country that has made him a killer. So once he gets back home to Oregon, he becomes offended by hunters using telescopic sights, as they have taken all the honor out of hunting. So now it is up to Bonham to track this madman that he trained to kill and try and stop him before he can strike again.

Tommy Lee Jones seems to be made for these type of movies as this is third movie that he has been involved in a movie about him in a one on one hunt with a fugitive from justice. But this time the movie takes a turn from The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals where the fugitives are innocent as the movie makes it a point from the beginning that Aaron is guilty and may even be a monster. Jones is once again perfect in his ability to play the obsessed hunter that always gets his man. He hunts Aaron with a persistence that he pulls off so well that you are right there beside him tracking the hunter as well. If there was any lack in Jones’ abilities it was in the fight scenes that just didn’t seem right, as they were a little slow and Jones just does not come off as the fighter type. Benicio Del Toro also puts in a masterful performance as the truly haunted madman that the armed forces used for special operation missions. His performance at times is so real you almost get goose bumps watching him as you can feel this madman almost breathing down your neck and stalking you like prey. The movie does a masterful job of bantering between its two main characters as they play a game of cat and mouse and while the ending was exactly what you expected it did not deter from the film instead almost being like a warm blanket of familiarity. The movie is slightly violent at times and may not be suited for young viewers but if you truly enjoy two actors sparring with each other mentally and physically in an exceptional drama this is the movie for you
4 stars out of 5