Directed by:
Paul W.S. AndersonScreenplay:
Paul W.S. AndersonCinematography:
Glen MacPhersonComposer:
Paul HaslingerCast:
Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta, T.I., Josh Helman, Jannik Schümann, Nanda Costa, Jin Au-Yeung, Schelaine Bennett, Nic Rasenti (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Behind our world, there is another – a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When an unexpected sandstorm transports Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her unit to a new world, the soldiers are shocked to discover that this hostile and unknown environment is home to enormous and terrifying monsters immune to their firepower. In their desperate battle for survival, the unit encounters the mysterious Hunter (Tony Jaa), whose unique skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the powerful creatures. As Artemis and Hunter slowly build trust, she discovers that he is part of a team led by the Admiral (Ron Perlman). The brave warriors combine their unique abilities to band together for the ultimate showdown. (Home Box Office)
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Reviews (12)
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.
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The biggest gadgeteer of genre cinema has again come up with a delightfully childish and ostentatiously formalistic flick. Anderson’s films can evoke the innocent amusement and wonder that we experienced in childhood when we first encountered genre spectacle. However, that does not mean that he works with nostalgia. On the contrary, his work – in terms of overall style and the formalistic treatment of individual sequences and shots – reaches a level of avant-garde that goes beyond most conventionally staid Hollywood blockbusters. Whereas those are childishly immature in their flattery of fans, would-be seriousness and false depth, Anderson remains idiosyncratically childlike and playful. Grouches will always look condescendingly down their noses at his films, but they will also never see the true delight in his movies. Monster Hunter is a typically pure action fantasy in Anderson’s style, where straightforwardness, spectacle and unrealism become superlatives. As is typical of the master, part of the joy is how Anderson works with video-game elements and finds formalistic and narrative equivalents for them, and how Mila Jovovich perfectly personifies the ethos of his films. In comparison with his previous projects, we also see gratifying progress in the merging of physical and digital attractions, which confirms the fact that Anderson reflects contemporary trends while also forging his own path in the cinema of spectacle.
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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.
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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%
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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.
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