The Hunter (Daniel Nettheim, 2011)

Willem Dafoe stars as a mercenary hired by a shady biotech company to track down the Tasmanian tiger, which is presumed to be extinct, and kill off the species for good after collecting samples of its DNA. It's at times a sluggish build-up to the final deed, with Tasmania getting Deliverance-style bad press as a battleground between hostile unemployed loggers and environmental activists and Dafoe trudging around alone in the unforgiving wilderness. But the slow burn is worth it in the end as it generates an existential air that elevates the whole to something greater than what its fairly basic outline promises. Dafoe is also particularly commanding, always suggesting something dangerous and torn beneath his self-controlled exterior.

6/10