Hunters: Chasing
Nazis on Amazon
A
l Pacino leads a team
of covert anti-Nazi
vigilantes in Amazon
Prime’
s new show Hunters.
The entire first season pre-
mieres on the service Feb. 21.
Set in 1977 New York, the
action-drama is based on
some real-life efforts to bring
fugitive Third Reich offi-
cers to justice in the United
States. Pacino’
s shadowy
millionaire Meyer Offerman,
a Holocaust survivor, leads a
team of loose cannons across
age, race and creed.
They track down Nazis
who’
ve assimilated, barely
concealed, into American
society and, in fact, often
brandish their swastikas in
public while they attempt
to infiltrate the U.S. gov-
ernment. Less Inglourious
Basterds than A-Team, these
jaunty heroes are equal parts
violent and flip.
The show’
s center
isn’
t Meyer, but Jonah
Heidelbaum (Logan
Lerman), a wide-eyed, nice
Jewish boy drawn into the
hunters’
orbit. He’
s a super-
hero fan looking for idols
in a less abundant time for
caped crusaders than our
present, and the show reflects
his simple logic.
Depicting an old-fash-
ioned battle of good vs. evil,
Hunters moves at a fast clip
(the first five episodes were
made available for review),
with a fun palette of primary
colors. But Jonah’
s ambiva-
lent, angst-riddled embrace
of his mission often feels
contrived, as does his lashing
out at his hunter peers, who
are little better developed
than the two-dimensional
Nazi foes.
While Jonah’
s young-adult
anxiety gets ample oxygen,
the rest of the cast is smoth-
ered by their shared vocal
tones, needless accents and
pun-riddled dialogue. Their
showdowns with the Nazis
they root out behind false
walls (the same techniques
Nazis once used to target
Jews) aren’
t as meaningful as
they could be.
Great villains have char-
acter, but Hunters’
surviving
fascists are defined solely
by sieg heils and vile slurs,
making the show’
s retributive
bloodshed ring hollow.
GEORGE ELKIND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
FEBRUARY 20 • 2020 | 43
TV Review
Al Pacino
plays a
Holocaust
survivor
tracking
down fugitive
Nazis in 1977
New York in
Amazon’
s
Hunters.
CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS / AMAZON STUDIOS
“IT’
S SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL!”
–NY1
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