TV Obsessive
Monster Hunter
Hawk: I love me some Paul W.S. Anderson. Even at his worst, the guy comes across as a passionate filmmaker determined to deliver a good time, despite the occasional failure to do so. With each of his movies, you can see the man behind the camera flashing a goofy-ass smile as he crafts ridiculous action sequences. He’s having fun, and regardless of how good his movies are, you gotta respect the guy for doing what he loves, and absolutely going full throttle on it.
And, shoot—Monster Hunter is pretty dope. Not a great movie, but definitely a great time. Anderson tweaks the setup for the movie, focusing on a group of soldiers led by Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) sucked through a portal to the Monster Hunter world. In the initial trailers, this new angle was…questionable, to be generous. But in the finished product, the decision, at least for a straightforward movie, works to make Artemis an audience surrogate into this new universe. Artemis comes across a nameless Hunter (Tony Jaa) and together they set off across the desert to…hunt monsters, or something. I’m just realizing this movie’s plot is just a vessel for action sequences, but I’d argue that the fact that I didn’t even really notice this until after the credits rolled shows that it was effective.
The monsters themselves are magnificent. The CGI looks great, and the monster designs are as close to those of the games as possible. Anderson enjoys zooming in on the fearsome eyes of the beasts, as well as employing wide shots of human vs monster to emphasize the difference in size between them. On that note, the fan service is on full blast. The Palicoes, the weapons, even the maneuvers in which the weapons are used; there is clear and distinct attention to detail that shows that the filmmakers did their homework in ensuring that the film effectively transplanted the game to the silver screen.
Admittedly, the movie is hampered by the overly frenetic editing that has become a mainstay in Anderson’s movies for whatever reason—though it’s a far cry from the chaotic hack job that was Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Character arcs and specific motives are as cliché as they come, with Artemis and The Hunter’s dynamic almost painfully predictable. All right, fine: it’s kind of a mess, the pacing is weird and there’s really not much in the way of a script.
But this is a movie called Monster Hunter, dang it. It’s got monsters, it’s got hunting, and it delivers the goods for a big, loud, burly action movie. This is the kind of junk food cinema I long to return to on the big screen to kill some time on a Tuesday afternoon.
Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!
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