King of the HillAfter a steamy rendezvous in the bathroom of a service station with a mysterious woman calling herself Bea, traveller Quim finds his wallet and cigarette lighter also vanished during the encounter. He follows Bea's car down a remote mountain road when suddenly a gunshot rings out and strikes his car. Quim pulls over to investigate - and promptly takes the next bullet in the leg. He is being hunted by a person or persons unknown and to make matters worse, he is completely lost. His only ally is Bea, who may or may not be in on the whole thing. Spanish feature King of the Hill has been doing the festival rounds (including the Incredibly Strange Film Festival in New Zealand) but has not seemed to have garnered any huge acclaim along the way. This is understandable as despite a good line in tension and mystery, plus a decent surprise for the third act (I would hesitate to go so far as to call it a twist per se), the movie is very straightforward. Basically, the story is exactly as presented. The only mystery is around the identity of the hunter(s), the reveal of which is ultimately the only card the narrative holds. Instead, King of the Hill is reliant on the omnipresent threat and some excellent acting from Leonardo Sbaraglia as Quim. The part is often short on dialogue whilst high on physicality and emotion, and Sbaraglia is always involving, even when his character does not always act to the highest of moral standards. These factors, combined with a gritty, high-contrast visual aesthetic and occasional flashy camerawork, are sufficient to maintain interest throughout the running time, but it is hard to imagine the film has much replay value. Matters are not helped by the core storyline of humans-hunting-humans is a familiar one. In the end, King of the Hill is a solid thriller and certainly a sufficiently entertaining distraction, but lacks the depth required to elevate it to something truly special.
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