There is nothing like an anniversary to remind you how old you are. With the Hunt for the Wilderpeople coming out recently, it is a nice reminder on its 10th anniversary of how much time has passed “recently”. Yup, this is a ten-year-old movie, my back is aching typing that. Anyway, when this movie released it felt like an immediate kiwi classic, and rewatching it now, it still is a bloody kiwi classic!
The movie
If you have already seen Hunt for the Wilderpeople, you can probably skip this bit. In short, we are presented with a state services employee dropping Ricky off to his new foster parents, Bella and Hector. Bella is a lovely woman and Hector is a grumpy old fella who loves life in the bush. If you have spent any time in Aotearoa, then you will likely immediately associate with the two characters. I never lived “that” rurally, and I can even picture multiple people that feel exactly like this pair.
Anyway, Ricky has never felt a connection in the foster system, but with Bella’s warm heart, he starts to feel like he has a whānau with this aunty and uncle. When Bella suddenly dies, the state services are going to come pick Ricky up. Since he has found his home, he doesn’t want to leave, so he runs away into the bush. Hector goes after him, and injures himself. Ricky helps him get right enough to walk, but by the time this happens, the news has already spread that Hector has kidnapped Ricky. Feeling painted into a corner, they continue to venture into the bush.
There are two important things to note about this movie. The heart of it comes from Hector growing to care for Ricky, which is done well thanks to an exceptional performance from Sam Neill, and the comedy is absolutely exceptional. Ricky is consistently hilarious thanks to the exceptional performance by Julian Dennison, who is able to smash together the nature of a good kid that makes dumb choices, and nails his one-liners perfectly.
The comedy runs the perfect line with silly physical comedy, brutal dry lines, and the absurdity of the state services’ agent. Played by Rachel House, she is the perfect blend of taking herself too seriously, with absolutely no self awareness. Every character has been designed perfectly to give the movie the right balance of heart and pure kiwi hilarity.
Taika Waititi did so much to make this movie exactly what it needed to be. The way he filmed it with beautiful sweeping landscapes of kiwi bush, real scenes that perfectly exemplify rural houses and DOC huts give the film both legitimacy, but also make it feel timeless. Hunt for the Wilderpeople feels like it could have been made 40 years ago, or yesterday. Every time I watch it, I forget how many jokes it throws at you as it is more the story that sticks with me. This is great because every rewatch the jokes catches me off guard and I enjoy every second of it.
What’s in the 10th Anniversary Edition?
Madman does a pretty cracking job with their limited editions, but this one takes the absolute cake. First, there is the movie itself in 4K. If you are going to keep returning to a movie like this, and you should, then you want the experience to be peak. So getting it in 4K is well worth every cent. There is also a Blu-ray disc called Skuxx Extras. This includes heaps of special features, and with the people involved here, there is so much to enjoy there. This isn’t video footage, including special features about the 10th anniversary!
Then it comes in a hard cover box that includes some photo cards which have some great lines printed on the back, a fantastic soft cover book which has script snippets, essays about the movie, and other artifacts from the movie. These are things that Madman does a lot for special editions, and they are consistently great, but what makes this edition truly fantastic is it includes a Penguin Books printing of Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump. This is the book the movie is based on, so including it in the Special Edition is the kind of touch that takes this from a great addition to the movie shelf, to a must include on the shelf.
Should you get Hunt for the Wilderpeople: 10th Anniversary Edition?
If somehow you haven’t checked this movie out, I highly recommend fixing that urgently! This is a cracking way to do so. Enjoying that beautiful Aotearoa scenery in 4K is the only way to enjoy it, and this package is well worth the extra coin! This is an exceptional release of an exceptional movie that I will continue to rewatch regularly, but now in 4K.
An incredible film gets and incredible edition to celebrate the 10 year milestone. A must include on any comedy fans shelf!
