Review: ‘Monster Hunter’
Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa are wasted in this shockingly terrible, poorly directed and horribly edited misfire that wouldn’t even be able to hold a candle to a PlayStation 2 video game cutscene.
Paul W. S. Anderson makes films for a specific type of audience. Cold, empty, garish and bordering on nonsensical, his Resident Evil film series has managed to defeat all the odds to become the most commercially successful video game adaptation to date, with an international box office gross of over $1 billion. There was something almost endearing about those films (particularly Milla Jovovich’s committed performances in them) and how Anderson managed to double down on his own creative flourishes (which have since become somewhat of a trademark for him) despite the constant criticisms. But not even die-hard fans of the Resident Evil films will be able to find anything appealing in his latest film, the shockingly terrible misfire Monster Hunter.
Based on Capcom’s highly successful video game series of the same name, Monster Hunter centers on an elite military force, led by Captain Natalie Artemis (Jovovich), who suddenly find themselves transported to another universe after they get caught up in what appears to be a thunderstorm. Lost in the middle of nowhere with a broken GPS, their confusion is only heightened when they are attacked by a mysterious and ruthless creature who has seemingly emerged from the vast desert landscape they have found themselves in. Separated from her crew after a fiery showdown, Captain Artemis reluctantly forms an alliance with the only other human she manages to come across, the self-proclaimed Hunter (Tony Jaa) and the two soon devise a plan to get rid of the mysterious creature and make their way back home.
An action role-playing video game where players take on the role of a hunter who has to defeat a series of large monsters, the Monster Hunter video game series has no discernible plot or recognizable characters (other than its vast collection of terrifying creatures) so fans were understandably confused when a film adaptation of the series was announced. With the right creative team, a Monster Hunter film could have had the potential to become a genuinely engaging and thrilling start to a franchise. But Anderson, who not only directed but also wrote the script for the film, has put very little thought and care into this universe, more concerned with formulating action setpieces instead of an actual, coherent storyline, and even less effort into his thinly-written set of characters, all of which have no actual personality traits or character arcs that would allow viewers to root for them.
The film’s terrible script isn’t its only flaw. Far from it, actually. Monster Hunter is not only awfully written but it is also poorly directed and terribly edited; its fast cuts, wide angles, shoddy framing and video game-level CGI making for an excruciating visual experience that wouldn’t even hold a candle to a PlayStation 2 video game cutscene. The bulk of its performances are also incredibly grating. Captain Artemis’ military force, in particular, turn in shockingly bad performances, although it would be very hard to deliver the awful, cringe-inducing lines they are given regardless of skill and experience.
The film’s one redeemable element is the dynamic between its two main characters. Jovovich and Jaa have chemistry in spades and their hijinks make for quite a delightful experience. It’s a shame that it’s all lost in the surrounding ghastliness of the film. After years of slumming it in her husband’s films, Jovovich is never truly given material that is worthy of her skill and on-screen presence. She has the charisma of a bonafide movie star, all of which is consistently wasted in Anderson’s films and truly awful fare like 2018’s Future World. She deserves better and so does the audience. Here’s hoping that the sequel to Monster Hunter, which the film goes to great lengths in order to shamelessly set up, never happens. And judging by the response to the film so far, odds are that it won’t.
Rating: 1/5
Monster Hunter is now in theaters in some international territories. It will be released in theaters in the US on December 25.