movie review of monster hunter

Review: A funky finish and Milla Jovovich can’t redeem ‘Monster Hunter’

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For roughly two-thirds of its running time, the big-screen video game adaptation “Monster Hunter” feels like an attempt to answer a question no one has asked: What would the “Jurassic Park” movies be like if they were drained of all sense of wonder? The film rallies toward the end with a few genuinely spectacular images, but even its best scenes fail to justify a tedious first hour.

Written and directed by the veteran genre movie impresario Paul W.S. Anderson, “Monster Hunter” stars the battle-tested action-adventure actor Milla Jovovich , who also anchored Anderson’s “Resident Evil” films. She brings her usual spark to the role of Natalie Artemis, a no-nonsense U.S. Army officer who is leading her troops on a desert mission when a sandstorm transports them to another dimension dominated by enormous, predatory, dinosaur-like animals.

After sustaining heavy losses, Artemis makes contact with “The Hunter” ( Tony Jaa ), who first captures her but then joins forces to try to survive the near-unceasing monster onslaught. Initially, the two can barely communicate with each other until they bond over a mutual love of chocolate.

From the opening scene onward — aside from the few minutes of awkward conversation between Artemis and the Hunter — the action in “Monster Hunter” is pretty nonstop. But that succession of large-scale monster-attack sequences comes at the expense of story and character development. Even the mythology from the “Monster Hunter” video game series is minimized, as the heroes are too busy fighting off creature after creature.

Anderson makes some head-scratching choices with the staging of those big fights. In the first one, the attacker is mostly under the sand. A little later, Artemis fends off a wave of behemoths in a dark cavern. In both cases — and with most of the early action in “Monster Hunter” — the monsters themselves are hard to see, and the strategies and logistics of the skirmishes are difficult to comprehend.

Throughout the picture, Anderson and his editors rely a lot on quick camera moves and quick cuts, effectively killing any sense of flow to the action. (Jaa, an accomplished martial artist, is especially ill-served by a visual approach that chops up and obscures his cool moves.) There’s just not a lot of awe here … and since the days of “King Kong” and “Godzilla,” monster movies have relied on awe.

And yet, just when “Monster Hunter” is looking like a complete waste of time, Artemis meets a grizzled warrior played by Ron Perlman , and at long last the movie starts to get a little funky. As the good guys gear up for a grand clash between human and beast, Artemis learns a bit more about the weird world she’s been visiting, with its sand-bound sailing ships and its humanoid felines.

Almost out of nowhere, the muddled and bland “Monster Hunter” of the first 60 minutes gives way to a movie with much more originality and personality. Even the fight scenes brighten up, culminating in a stunning-looking standoff between a dragon and a high-end military-grade helicopter.

Alas, the good stuff comes too late. To be fair, all this movie promises from the start is monsters and hunters, and Anderson delivers both, from the first frame to the credits. But for way too long, the generic title is matched to generic action.

'Monster Hunter'

Rated: PG-13, for sequences of creature action and violence throughout. Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes Playing: Starts Dec. 18 in drive-ins and in limited release where theaters are open

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Monster Hunter Reviews

No All Critics reviews for Monster Hunter.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Monster Hunter

When Cpt. Artemis and her loyal soldiers are transported to a new world, they engage in a desperate battle for survival against enormous enemies with incredible powers. Feature film based on... Read all When Cpt. Artemis and her loyal soldiers are transported to a new world, they engage in a desperate battle for survival against enormous enemies with incredible powers. Feature film based on the video game by Capcom. When Cpt. Artemis and her loyal soldiers are transported to a new world, they engage in a desperate battle for survival against enormous enemies with incredible powers. Feature film based on the video game by Capcom.

• Paul W.S. Anderson
• Kaname Fujioka
• Milla Jovovich
• Ron Perlman
• 1.1K User reviews
• 167 Critic reviews
• 47 Metascore
• 2 nominations

Top cast 20

• The Admiral

• (as Tip "T.I." Harris)

• Captain Roark
• JSO V22 Pilot #1

• JSO Soldier #2

• Comms Officer E3 Sentry

• Commander West E3 Sentry
• (as Bart Fouché)
• E3 Sentry Pilot

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Director Paul W.S. Anderson and the crew traveled to remote locations in South Africa and Namibia to capture the film's expansive vistas.
• Goofs During the Rangers' initial contact with the solitary sand monster, one soldier is repeatedly firing a belt-fed automatic weapon at the creature, however while you see multiple muzzle flashes, the ammunition belt is stationary and not feeding through the weapon.

Marshall : This shit is officially above my pay grade.

• Crazy credits There is a scene after the first set of credits involving a monster being fought and someone observing the fight from above.
• Alternate versions Not long after its theatrical release in China, the film was pulled from cinemas and subsequently banned, because a joke in the film was deemed insulting ("What are my knees? What kind of knees are these? Chi-knees"). This joke has since been removed from all versions of the movie.
• Connections Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Monster Hunter (2020)
• Soundtracks White Lightning Performed by George Jones Music and Lyrics by The Big Bopper (as J.P. Richardson) (c) Glad Music Courtesy of Peermusic (Germany) GmbH (p) 1959 Mercury Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc. Courtesy of Universal Music GmbH

User reviews 1.1K

• Top_Dawg_Critic
• Feb 16, 2021
• How long is Monster Hunter? Powered by Alexa
• Is this planned as a franchise? Any sequel in the works?
• Sequel Date Please? Anyone?!!
• December 18, 2020 (United States)
• United States
• South Africa
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Thợ Săn Quái Vật
• Western Cape, South Africa
• Constantin Film
• Impact Pictures
• Capcom Company
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $60,000,000 (estimated)
• $15,162,470
• Dec 20, 2020
• $42,145,959

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 43 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• Dolby Digital
• IMAX 6-Track

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