Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 103 minutes
Monster Hunter (4K UHD) – Movie Review
Monster Hunter has been on the rise for quite some time now. Even if the games were somewhat more obscure here nearly a decade ago, they started gaining a lot of popularity by also covering more platforms than just Sony’s PlayStation. The last two entries have gained a lot of attention, one being Monster Hunter: World, which was the ultimate Monster Hunter game for multiplayer fanatics, and the second one is the recently released Monster Hunter: Rise, which offers a great single-player experience on top of its multiplayer functionalities. Nonetheless, we now arrive at something completely different: the feature film. Even though this movie has been in the works for quite some time, those who have played MH: World will probably see a lot of items they recognize in this film. Trying to bring our world to the Monster Hunter universe, we dived into another CAPCOM adventure with Milla Jovovich in the lead.
Monster Hunter starts off with a flashy beginning, very much like the one in Monster Hunter: World, the 2018 game. We see an old-school pirate-like ship sail through the desert, only to be attacked by a monster later known as a Diablos. While the ship seemingly gets away, an unnamed hunter (Tony Jaa) gets flung overboard, having to fend for himself in the desert. Without actually knowing what happens to him, we suddenly cross over to what seems to be our world. We then meet army captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich), who leads her merry band of soldiers, who are tracking down another squad that has gone missing. When getting caught in a weird electrical storm, they find themselves in a location where they cannot find their bearings at all. When they are also attacked by the monster we saw in the introduction, it’s clear that they are no longer in our world. The team gets warned by the unnamed hunter as he shoots a flare but they are still caught by surprise when seeing the ungodly creature in front of them. A search and rescue party suddenly turns into a struggle for survival, where both the hunter, as well as the stranded soldiers, just want to get home in one piece.
For a movie such as this, the flow was quite on point. The film gives you a small introduction of the main character to somewhat form a bond with her. After this, we ease into the entire Monster Hunter setting, for the experience to become hectic for the biggest part of the movie. In many ways, this movie has the same buildup as the original Resident Evil film, but we find this setup lends itself better for this franchise. While we go from the introduction to a heavy middle, to finally end with an open ending, it’s clear that the team behind the film does not want this to be the only entry in this cinematic rendition of the Monster Hunter franchise. While not everything is on point in terms of pacing, it does encapsulate a lot of Monster Hunter material as seen in the games.
The acting performances are what you’d expect from movies such as this, where action sequences are played out in a super-intense kind of way, while other moments can count on cheesy one-liners and a lot of overacting. This isn’t bad per se, especially for a movie based on a gaming franchise such as this. We see Milla Jovovich star as the lead in another one of CAPCOM’s franchises, and she does so quite well. She acts believable but the ‘military’ background is sometimes laid on a bit too thickly. The other lead role is being played by Tony Jaa, who is mainly known for his Ong-Bak series, where it’s all about kicking ass and fight choreography. He has also starred in some Western productions over the years, but often in minor roles. While he doesn’t have a lot of spoken dialogue in this film, he does a formidable job portraying the unnamed ‘Hunter’. We also see appearances by Ron Perlman and T.I., both putting down their respective characters quite well.
When watching the 4K UHD version of the film, you’ll be able to view another twenty minutes worth of extra content on top of the movie. There are three main features plus some additional deleted scenes. While split up, the features are all about the creative process that led to the release of this movie; namely one is about the characters, the other about the monsters, and one about the props as well. Of course, the people behind the film also elaborate further on the story and a possible sequel. While not spoiling anything, we feel that Monster Hunter will have a similar setup as the Resident Evil films. This movie handles one big topic, while also giving a small interlude for a possible next adventure.
Conclusion
In a way, we understand that Monster Hunter has actually been met with negative feedback and reviews, but at the same time, we actually quite enjoyed this one. While the story is clearly not finished, and blending our universe with the Monster Hunter universe does raise a lot of questions, this movie was clearly made with love. The monsters look authentic, the props are amazingly handled and the overall concept behind the film is actually not bad at all. We also feel like this movie clings a bit more to the Monster Hunter: World game than it does to the entire game series as a whole. If you’re looking for a decent action flick, with cool animated monsters and you don’t mind the creators adding a creative twist to the source material, then you’ll probably enjoy this one quite a bit. This movie will not bring home any Oscars any time soon, but it does have a lot of potential for a short series of Monster Hunter films.
Note: For this review we were given the Steelbook 4K UHD version, which is available exclusively in our region at Media Market Belgium.
Monster Hunter (4K UHD) - Movie Review,
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