MOVIE NEWS – After spending much of the 2000s effectively blacklisted from Hollywood, Lethal Weapon star and long-time action icon Mel Gibson is once again picking up a gun in the name of justice in a new thriller that several reviewers are already describing as a “surprisingly effective” return to form. Slowly but surely, Gibson has been working his way back into the industry, and his latest venture into gritty action is poised to catch the attention of fans who still remember him from Payback and his hard-edged roles of the past.

His latest project, titled Hunting Season, drops Gibson into familiar territory as a battle-scarred father forced to unleash his skills when danger comes knocking. The story follows a man and his daughter who decide to offer shelter to a mysterious woman, only to discover that their act of kindness has made them targets for a ruthless drug lord. The setup has drawn comparisons to Liam Neeson’s now-classic “protective dad” roles, with some critics joking that Gibson and Neeson are quietly competing for the title of cinema’s most relentless action hero parent. MovieWeb’s Julian Roman argues that Hunting Season takes Gibson “Back to Badass Basics,” describing the film as a slow-burn thriller that ultimately proves well worth watching.

Roman writes that “Mel Gibson returns to form, shredding ruthless baddies with a heavy dose of God, guns, cigarettes, and family values in Hunting Season. The new action thriller stars Gibson as a reclusive father protecting his teenage daughter after an act of kindness puts them in mortal peril. A slow-burn narrative takes time for rich character exposition before the bloody violence kicks into high gear. There are no surprises or plot twists, but there’s a palpable engagement factor that trumps predictability. You care about what happens to the protagonists and cheer loudly when they strike back in a barrage of bullets.”

While there are not yet enough reviews for a Rotten Tomatoes score, several critics have singled out Gibson’s presence as the movie’s biggest asset. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter notes that “the actor’s charisma keeps the formulaic movie afloat, while director Collins displays a flair for action scenes”, highlighting how performance and staging make the familiar material feel more engaging than it might on paper. Aaron Peterson of The Hollywood Outsider echoes that sentiment, concluding that “Mel Gibson’s steely performance, combined with Raja Collins’s slow burn direction, delivers a familiar yet surprisingly effective thriller.”

Not everyone is completely sold on Gibson’s action comeback, however. Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com calls Hunting Season “an odd one, as a portion of it works on a dramatic scale, and there’s a surprising amount of viciousness in the picture, giving it some snap. But there’s hideous overacting as well.” Casey Chong of Casey’s Movie Mania praises Gibson’s “rugged intensity”, but ultimately labels the film a “languid action thriller”, suggesting that the pacing may test the patience of viewers expecting a relentless adrenaline rush from start to finish.

Directed by Raja Collins and written by Adam Hampton, Hunting Season co-stars Sophia Hublitz, Shelly Hennig, and Jordi Molla alongside Gibson. The movie has now been released in theaters and on Digital as of December 5, 2025, making it easily accessible to anyone curious about Gibson’s latest attempt to reclaim his action-thriller credentials. The official synopsis paints a tense picture: when a mysterious young woman washes up on the bank of a local river, both the feisty twelve-year-old girl who discovers her and the overprotective father who takes her in find their lives turned upside down by this stranger’s arrival, as well as by the ruthless drug lord who will stop at nothing to see her dead once and for all.

Source: MovieWeb