Following the conclusion of the Resident Evil cinematic saga, director Paul W.S. Anderson starts filming another high-profile, game title from Capcom. What came out of it? Read my review.
That Paul W.S. Anderson loves video games, we found out in 1995 when he made the best ever adaptation of Mortal Kombat with Christopher Lambert as Rayden and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang-Tsung. And when fans believed that there was a director who could bring games to the big screen without much pain, Anderson started Resident Evil and ... the spell was broken. It's not about how the movie was made, but about the fact that the plot was nothing like the one presented in the cult series of games. The director and scriptwriter completely ignored the source material and based everything on his imagination. Viewers still argue whether it was a good idea. So when it was announced that the same developer would be taking on Monster hunter, we knew exactly what to expect: lots of special effects, lots of combat, and no story. After the screening, I can say that this is what we got. But from the beginning.
A patrol of American soldiers during a supernatural storm is transported through a magical portal to another world ruled by huge monsters. The group led by Lieutenant Artemis (Milla Jovovich) quickly learns that the hunter has turned into a prey for the great creatures and that in order to survive, they must adapt to the rules, and they are not clear. The Hunter (Tony Jaa) will introduce them to new realities. It is with his help that the soldiers will try to return to their world.
I don't know how Paul W.S. Anderson was given a budget for a film with no script, and I don't write it spitefully. There is no history here. Nothing. The events just happen, the heroes run from A to B and that's it. There is no planned action here. Something that would explain to the viewer what is happening and why. Most surprisingly, after the finale of this movie, you can see that the creator is very much counting on a continuation. Although I feel that the pandemic and the cool reception of fans will thwart his plans.
One thing must be admitted, Monster hunter looks great. The monsters seem to be straight out of the game. They move very smoothly. Watching them in action, we don't have the feeling of cheap CGI. You can see that the lion's share of the budget has gone to VFX, and I'm not just talking about monsters, but also costumes and locations. In this respect, Anderson's production looks very good. The cast is also interesting. In addition to Milli Jovovich, the director's wife who starred in most of his films, we also have the great Tony Ja. They both know how to fight spectacularly in front of cameras. And here comes another gripe. If you have a man like Jaa in production, why overuse editing and play every scene with a million shots? After all, this is not a guy who needs to be helped with such tricks to make his movements dynamic, because he can do it himself. I understand this type of treatment in Taken 3, in which we have a million shots of Liam Neeson jumping the fence. But neither Jaa nor Jovovich need such editing tricks. In my opinion, the director, perhaps wanting to help them, hurt them a lot.
Monster Hunter is doing a great deal of harm to this brand. Fans of the game will be pissed off by what they see, and people unfamiliar with it will wonder how it happened that this title gained worldwide fame - after all, nothing is happening here. The director focused so much on playing with computer effects and creating monsters that he forgot everything else. The characters that appear in this production very often do not have a goal, character, and sometimes even names. The best example is the character played by Ron Perlman, whose huge potential is immediately wasted. Again, the same question arises as with Tony Jaa - why hire such a distinctive actor if you do not intend to use his capabilities? For the name on the poster?
Paul W.S. Anderson is a director with a vision he can bring to the screen. His films are visually pleasing to the eye and refer to the games he draws inspiration from. The problem is not the lack of an engaging story, but the lack of any story. The viewer does not go to the cinema or buy a movie on SVOD to see cool costumes, that's what cosplayers are doing. And she wants to feel the story come to life on the screen. Unfortunately, to experience this, he has to reach for the game, because the film does not provide this feeling once again....