Time: 103 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence
Cast:
Milla Jovovich as Natalie Artemis
Tony Jaa as The Hunter
Ron Perlman as The Admiral
Tip “T.I.” Harris as Lincoln
Diego Boneta as Marshall
Meagan Good as Dash
Josh Helman as Steeler
Jin Au-Yeung as Axe
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Captain Artemis and her group of soldiers are pulled into a world where dangerous monsters and humans co-exist. Grappled by danger, they must find a way to escape with help from a mysterious hunter.

Monster Hunter is the latest movie from Paul W.S. Anderson, a director whose filmography has generally garnered a mixed to negative response. This movie would be an adaptation of the video game of the same name, which I’m not that familiar with. Despite some clear issues, I enjoyed it.

As I said, I’m not familiar with the video games the movie is based on, so I’m not sure how accurate it is to the source material. Without knowing anything about the games it’s based on, Monster Hunter is a dumb, loud and explosive popcorn movie with video game silliness (fittingly). However, I found the experience to be fun and quite entertaining. The story is pretty generic and minimal, but the lack of a plot does work in its favour somewhat. It is very pulpy and has a goofy sense of humour, and I was on board with the tone of the film. It does have a bit of a slow beginning unfortunately, but after the early section, it is kept at a fast pace which maintains a good amount of energy throughout. There is something of a sequel bait ending, although there’s currently no sequel in development so it’s just awkward to watch.

As far as actors go, it mostly comes down to Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa in the lead roles. The interplay between them is good, and the core dynamic is one of the stronger parts of the movie. The initial conflict between them is a little unnecessary and drawn out, but it does pick up once it gets into the swing of things. There aren’t a ton of prominent supporting actors, the most notable is an absurd looking anime hair sporting Ron Perlman, who is at least entertaining in his limited screentime.

Paul W.S. Anderson is quite a polarising director, and his work definitely won’t work for everyone. I’ve generally liked his movies and so I’ve enjoyed his work here. The cinematography is generally good, capturing the desert setting well, and the visual effects are solid. The monster designs are great; they look real, unique, and are very detailed. There are also some entertaining and well put together action, mainly consisting of the epic battles against large scale monsters. There’s even some surprising horror elements at times. It’s a shame then that much of the film and those action sequences are let down and by some flawed editing, with way too many cuts; this is an issue with many of Anderson’s other movies too. 

Monster Hunter is very flawed with its story, characters, and editing, but nonetheless was an enjoyable fantasy adventure B-movie, with some entertaining action sequences and solid performances from Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa. If you like many of Anderson’s other movies, you’ll probably enjoy this. However, if you can’t get into them at all, Monster Hunter won’t be an exception.