Rich Wright And his day got off to such a promising start. After stopping at a petrol station, a man finds himself propositioned to have a quick bit of nookie in the ladies toilet by a sexy young brunette. RESULT!! Unfortunately, he later discovers she's nicked his wallet and lighter. Oops. Still, on the road again, he sees her turn off and decides to pursue her vehicle... and before long, in circumstances too convoluted to explain, both are forced to team up as they find themselves stranded in the wilderness, being shot at by unseen snipers. Quite a turn-up for the books, eh? Known as 'King Of The Hill' here in the UK (But with no connection to the TV show of the same name) this is a nail biting thriller with a very small cast, but an abundance of tension and realism. The aspect I most enjoyed was the way the participants were fleshed out, as despite being on the run for the most of length we discover a lot about them through their words and actions alone. Even the main 'villains', who we don't meet until late on, and their own unique perspectives. This is crucial to the movie's success as if it was a simple chase between two sets of caricatures with no discernible personalities, it wouldn't be half as absorbing as it clearly is.People get hurt, tired and frustrated. Their very lives are on the line. They never know where the gunmen will crop up next. The terrain they have to trek through is inhospitable too, to say the least. It's all done with miraculous skill by the director, as the stakes are raised with every scene. Make sure you go to the bathroom beforehand... you're not gonna want to tear yourself away for a minute. A great thrill ride, and a smart one as well. 7/10

Sindre Kaspersen Spanish screenwriter, film editor and director Gonzalez López-Gallego's fourth feature film which he co-wrote with screenwriter and producer Javier Gullón, was screened in the Discovery section at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival in 2007 and is a Spanish production which was shot on locations in the municipality of Vinuesa and Soliedra in the city and province of Soria, Spain and was produced by Spanish screenwriter and producer Miguel Bardem and producers Juan Pita, Juanma Arance and Álvaro Augustin. It tells the story about Quim, a young man who while on his way to visit his former girlfriend Sofia, stops at a petrol station in a small rural community and gets robbed by a young girl he has never seen before. As the girl vanishes without a trace Quim continues towards his destination, but all of the sudden he sees a flash up in the mountains and hears that a bullet hits his car.Finely and engagingly directed by Spanish filmmaker Gonzalez López-Gallego, this fast-paced fictional tale draws a riveting portrayal of a young man's struggle to survive after coincidentally becoming the target of a group of psychopathic hunters in the highlands of Soria, Spain. While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric rural milieu depictions, the fine cinematography by screenwriter and cinematographer José David Montero, editing by Gonzalez López-Gallego and use of sound, this character-driven psychological thriller depicts a sparse though efficient study of character and contains a prominent score by composer David Crespo.This forebodingly atmospheric story about a man who is involuntarily designated as a participant in an inhumane game of life and death, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, multiple viewpoints, esoteric characters and the involving acting performance by Argentinean actor Leonardo Sbaraglia. A continually intriguing mystery.

dawn1-317-491182 Maria Valverde make for a sympathetic pairing, wisely the film doesn't stop to long to give them a relationship but they have a certain mild chemistry that makes their bond under adversity a compelling one. For around two thirds or so of its length King of The Hill is rather great, hardly earth shattering in its events or approach but sufficiently well handled that it really stands out, unfortunately it doesn't end the same way. Like most films of its mysterious ilk, there's a "big reveal" here, and it's deeply ill-advised, an attempt at sombre significance that flops hard. A turn in events that would be unlikely and fairly tricky to pull off even if it were a significant part of the film from the start, here the film expects us to just buy the plot turn and then continues in the same uncompromising vein as before. To say much about why it doesn't work would be going into spoiler territory and since other have enjoyed this much more than I and not been troubled by the finale I won't divulge events, but for me it was daft verging on laughable, it not only took all the wind out of the film's sails but also rather tainted what had gone before. A saddening turn of events, as I wanted to dig this one and it came close to being a winner, but I can only go by my final impression, which was one of disappointment. A 5/10 then, even though for a fair amount of the runtime this is more like a high 7.

vostf Typical of those so called "genre movies": a (very) thin concept and a lot of confidence from the director in his ability to pull up a good suspense/horror/whatever experience.Actually the locations are great in The King of the Hill, and the camera seems to do whatever it takes to create some tension. So for the first 30 minutes there's a kind of provisional suspense developing. Then, once the story has run out of fuel, it gets boring, and even more boring as it switches to the hunter's point of view (a very dumb attempt at stretching the flimsy storyline even further).Why they ever bothered to make a movie out of this scribbled one-line screenplay would be a mystery if gruesomeness alone was not a marketable value for some apparently dumb and bored teen audience.