The Hunted is a 1995 martial arts action-thriller film written and directed by J. F. Lawton in his mainstream directorial debut, and starring Christopher Lambert, John Lone, Joan Chen, Yoshio Harada and Yoko Shimada.

Lambert plays Paul Racine, an American businessman who by accident earns the wrath of a modern-day ninja clan in Japan.

The critically well-received soundtrack featured music by the Japanese taiko troupe Kodō, which pervades the film.

Kinjo decapitates her as his men stab Racine, hit him with a poisoned shuriken and cut his throat, leaving him for dead.

Leaving the city, Takeda secretly uses Racine as bait to draw Kinjo out, leading to a battle on the train where several passenger cars of innocent people are slaughtered by the ninjas.

During the boat ride to the island, Mieko explains the history of the conflict between the two clans and the samurai concepts of courage and honor to Racine.

The man he finds, Nemura, is a powerful yakuza figure who bought Kirina from her uncle, a pimp, then ordered her death when she left him after years of servitude.

When Racine announces that he wants to leave the island and return home to New York, Takeda has him imprisoned and alerts Kinjo of his whereabouts.

[5] The Hunted had been one of his early scripts, written before he found success in Hollywood as the screenwriter of Pretty Woman (1990) and Under Siege (1992).

The DVD bonus content included production notes, short biographies of Lambert, Lone, Chen and Lawton, and the theatrical trailer.

[20] A limited edition of 1,000 copies featuring a Region B Blu-ray and a DVD of the film was released on July 7, 2016 in Germany by Koch Media.

Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune gave The Hunted one star out of four, expressing dislike of Frenchman Lambert being cast as an American and Hong Kong native Lone playing a Japanese character.

[23] Stephen Hunter, writing for Baltimore Sun, thought that Takeda was the only character that stood out, saying that director Lawton "clearly saw The Seven Samurai one time too many.

[24] William Grimes for The New York Times called it "a slightly better than adequate B thriller", adding that "within limits [...] the film delivers."

[28][23] The soundtrack was recorded from July to November 1994,[29] and a CD was released on May 9, 1995 by TriStar Music, consisting of songs composed by Motofumi Yamaguchi and Leonard Eto.

[27] Jack Donen of Djembe Magazine deemed the soundtrack "tailored to Western ears", owing to a greater use of syncopation and several synthesizer sequences.