MOVIE REVIEW By Lucas Allen: ‘Monster Hunter’ another video game gone bad movie

Monster Hunter
(Screen Gems/Constantin Film/Toho)

By Lucas Allen

Earlier in 2020, “Sonic the Hedgehog” set a new high standard for the video game film subgenre. Now we go back to the other side of the spectrum with “Monster Hunter,” an adaptation of a JRPG game by Capcom first released in 2004 for PlayStation 2. It’s no surprise that writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson is responsible for this, given his track record on the “Resident Evil” franchise.
In an unknown part of our world, Capt. Artemis (Milla Jovovich) leads her army squad to look for any activity they can report back to base. While doing this, an unusual lightning storm hits their Jeep and they are transported to an alternate version of the world, filled with desert and volcanic rock. It’s also home to some ancient creatures like sand dragons and giant poisonous spiders. After a devastating monster attack, Artemis is the only one left to survive in the unknown world.
She knows the only way back home is within a mysterious tower underneath the ionic storm. But to get there, she must rely on a young hunter (Tony Jaa) to guide her despite the fact that he does not speak English. Now armed with ammo made by hand, the duo treks through the dangerous landscape while fending off the vicious creatures. Along the way, they bump into the hunter’s pirate crew led by the Admiral (Ron Perlman) with a feline chef (you read that right), and do battle with a giant fire-breathing dragon.
It should come as no surprise that this is another title in the laundry list of bad video game movies, with a majority of them made by notorious filmmaker Uwe Boll. But then you have Anderson, who seems to prefer to sacrifice character development and proper storytelling for more action and nothing else. In this case, every scene is shot and edited in such a choppy manner that some viewers will need an extra shot of adrenaline to get through this editing nightmare. Worse, the fight scenes are poorly made in the same manner that it’s becoming difficult to keep up and it’s a headache to sit through. For the first full hour of the film, it’s completely drab and dull with little investment beyond staring at lifeless visuals.
Then you have the awkward comedy, where much of the humor is devoted to having Artemis having a conversation with the Hunter with the latter not knowing English leading to some cringe-worthy moments. It doesn’t help that the main character lacks character development so that it’s difficult to care about what happens to her throughout the movie. However, the only good thing the movie has going for it is the last half hour, where the editing gets a little better and the action-packed climax is more worthwhile. Not to mention, fans of “Game of Thrones” will be happy to see some extra fire-breathing dragon action.
Although she’s pretty good in the action scenes, Jovovich’s acting comes off as both stiff and unconvincing as an army captain that could’ve been done by a more seasoned actor. Then you have the other actors including Tip “T.I.” Harris and Meagan Good not giving enough direction to act through such forced dialogue they’re given. Jaa certainly has all the right moves in his fighting scenes, but his scenes with Jovovich leave a lot to be desired. The only actor to really give a performance is Perlman, who made the most of his limited screen time during the film’s last half hour.
“Monster Hunter’s” transition from video game to motion picture was certainly doomed from the start. Rather than try to make a compelling story about hunting giant monsters, the filmmakers decided to make a combination of Land of the Lost and Pitch Black without having a second thought. It shouldn’t be surprising the kind of video game movie it turns out to be, but you’ll wish for something better than what we got.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for sequences of creature action and violence throughout)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 1.75 Stars (Out of Four)