Monster Hunter

Milla Jovovich and Paul W.S. Anderson may be done with Resident Evil and zombies, but their Monster Hunter is more or less the same thing. Only there are dragons and dinosaurs, but otherwise this duo once again serves up solid action wrapped in a very contrived and uninteresting story with characters you'll be glad you remembered their name. Unfortunately, the decent action loses out on points to an uninteresting story and boring characters. But perhaps that's all one can expect from Anderson. (02/22/2021)

As awful as it can be. I should probably admire the reluctant development of a cinematic (and purely blockbuster) speech that rejects action set-pieces, but everything in it is so laughable. There isn’t a hint of a story, there characters are bland and have shallow to stupid interactions, the pace goes from frantic to boring and, on top of that, it has the most ramshackle concept of a dual fictional world cinema has ever seen. As a bizarre showcase of every possible source of inspiration (mainly video games, of course) and timeless narrative tropes, it is certainly unique, but as a well crafted fantasy adventure the only thing worthy in it are the decent visuals. An incredibly shabby and unfocused film that has seen no equal in its weight category. 25% (02/16/2021)

What could I have expected? Paul W.S. Anderson and his significant other once again decided to make a film where the main heroine is the badass Jovovich, who takes down all the monsters that stand in her way. If this concept sounds familiar, yes, Resident Evil was built on a similar premise, except for one thing (swap "monsters" for "zombies"). To be fair, the film can be quite entertaining at times and the visuals aren’t among the worst (the monsters surprisingly look decent, and the CGI is acceptable), but the story, oh, the story. Within a few training sessions with Tony Jaa, the marine captain transforms into an invincible fighter who isn’t intimidated by monsters as tall as skyscrapers (like... what?). Ron Perlman must have mixed up his casting, as his presence felt out of place (why does he need this?). The ending with the army is probably the best part, along with the spider nest (this spider scene reminded me of Anderson’s early directing days, when he made Event Horizon, which at least had some atmosphere). It’s truly the most average entertainment you can choose to watch. For me, it’s 5/10. P.S. After watching the film, I definitely don’t want to try the game :D (02/20/2021)

Monster Hunter offers a decent show from the audiovisual point of view with nice locations and generally good and imaginative looking monsters, but the script it's not such a hit parade, which is to be expected considering the director. I've never played the game, so I can't judge to what extent the film sticks to the source material, but plot-wise it felt like a patchwork of other stories: Tremors, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jurassic Attacks (or a light version of Jurassic Park), Riddick, King Kong and 300, and I'm sure there would be other bits and pieces. The "cat" character went completely beyond my comprehension, but whatever. For one viewing with your brain turned off, Monster Hunter is an ideal and unpretentious choice for an evening. Sort of. (02/17/2021)

Quite entertaining hogwash with a nicely OTT finale. The monsters look really great, the action is easy to follow and is a dream come true for little fans of fantasy who love dragons and dinosaurs. Anderson is a B-movie director to a T and he gets great joy out of making this sort of thing with Mila. It’s interesting to see how they steal things from the "Dark Tower" saga by Stephen King (the parallel worlds, and the Tower that unites them; come on, now - give it a rest!). It’s dumb as anything, Ron Perlman has awful hair, the relationship between the heroine and Tony Jaa is really shaky, but it’s bearable.  It isn’t so much about people anyhow. (02/28/2021)