Mark Reviews Movies: MONSTER HUNTER

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 17, 2020

To get it out of the way at the start, Monster Hunter is big, dumb, and goofy fun. That's all the film tries to be. That's all it wants to be. It works on those terms, and while it may only work on those terms, what's the problem with that?

Here, we have yet another movie based on a video game—a whole series of game, in fact. Such movies usually run into one of two problems: Either they try to force a story into material that didn't really have or need one, or as video games have started to make the narrative the key feature, they attempt to cram as much exposition, mythology, and back story as possible, lest the fans feel as if the adaptation didn't get every single detail correct.

Writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson doesn't care about story here, because this material, about a mystical or interstellar or interdimensional world filled with all sorts of monsters, doesn't need one. The title basically tells us everything we need to know, and Anderson's screenplay, well, respects that level of simplicity.

There is a story, of course, but it's not the point. The point is the spectacle of people fighting and occasionally hunting those monsters. There's a clear goal for the characters to reach—a magical or technologically advanced tower in the distance, across a wide stretch of desert. Everything else is about the obstacles between the characters and that destination, and the obstacles are giant or just plain nasty monsters.

As for the surface of a plot, there's a team of Army Rangers, led by Artemis (Milla Jovovich), traveling across a desert somewhere on Earth to find out what happened to another team, which has gone missing. On second thought, let's forget about them for a moment. The film actually opens on a desert in "the New World," where we see rows of dunes rising across the white sands.

There's the clear sound of some vehicle approaching the camera, and whatever one might be expecting of this means of travel, it's probably not what actually appears: a masted sailing ship, riding along the hills like waves. It's a nonsensical idea, perhaps, but that first sight, ludicrous and kind of neat, tells us how we should approach this film. Don't try to make sense of it, because the filmmakers certainly aren't going to, and just take in how gloriously ridiculous what we're seeing actually is.

Back on Earth, Artemis' team is caught up in a sandstorm during their search. In the storm, the team is transported to the New World, where they find the remains of the lost team—surrounded by sand that has been burnt to glass. A stranger, known only as the Hunter (Tony Jaa), tries to help when the ground starts rumbling.

From here on, the story is just an excuse for the characters to have plenty of encounters with the various monsters in this strange place. Aside from Artemis, the team, made up of some familiar faces (Meagan Good and Tip "T.I." Harris, for example), is mostly fodder—literally, in a few cases—to prove that these beasts mean business.

A massive worm of sorts tunnels underground, popping out of the sand whenever it hears a potential meal overhead. Within some nearby caverns, there are big hybrids of a scorpion and spider, paralyzing its prey with a stinger and then wrapping the victim in some inky webbing. They also lay their eggs inside the prey, leading one pretty disgusting reveal (that has Artemis checking her torso out of creepy-crawly reflex).

There are other monsters, too, which aren't quite as diverse as these (One species just looks like a dinosaur, and another is like the burrowing creature but with wings). These are digital creations, obviously, but the visual effects team doesn't cut too many corners on them.

These monsters, especially the worm and a dragon that becomes the focus of the extended climax, have been designed so that they appear to have actual texture—layers of hard scales that are colored and shaded so that they offer an illusion of being tactile. There's none of the unnatural gloss that often comes from lazier effects work (We can tell, because some of the smaller, less important monsters do have that look). While a lot of filmmakers try to cover up shortcomings in the visual effects by keeping them in the dark, Anderson is confident enough in these creatures to put them in harsh light of a sunny day in the desert.

They more than get the job done, and again, the job is solely for these monsters to pummel, crush, and eat our human heroes, who fight back with guns, crossbows, oversized swords, and blades that erupt in flames when they connect. Jovovich and Jaa, whose characters team up to slay the beasts and make it to the tower, have some solid comedic chemistry between them, and Ron Perlman, wearing a silly wig, and especially an anthropomorphic cat, who's the cook onboard the sailing ship, make entertaining appearances later.

Anderson follows through on all of the film's self-evident goals (fighting and hunting some impressive monsters) and unspoken promises (If Earth-bound humans can get into the monster-filled world, surely the monsters can get into ours, and boy, does one ever make an impression in ours). This is knowingly goofy stuff, offering up ridiculous spectacle with amused winks.

Monster Hunter promises a sequel, of course. During a mid-credit scene, fans of the game will probably understand and appreciate a glimpse at a mysteriously cloaked figure. For the rest of us, there's the prospect of the chef cat wielding a giant sword.

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