If you’ve seen any of Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil films then you know exactly what to expect from Monster Hunter. The man responsible for bastardising one of the most popular video game franchises of all time into an almost incomprehensible mess is at it again with another huge Capcom property, albeit one with considerably less narrative structure to draw from. Aside from the excellent monster design, bringing wife Milla Jovovich along for the ride again is one of the very few good decisions Anderson has made here, with a charisma and penchant for kicking ass (whether it be zombies or 50-foot tall monsters) that just never quits. You don’t go into these movies looking for a 5-star story and Monster Hunter never attempts to give you one, with a sliver of narrative thread holding the entire sloppily edited ordeal together until its abrupt, sequel-teasing end.
The set-up is pure D-grade action movie pulp. Jovovich is Lieutenant Artemis, a rough and tumble army ranger who leads a crew of soldier stereotypes who say things like “this is officially above my pay-grade”. There’s sharpshooter Link (T.I.), rookie Dash (Meagan Good) and about four others that get so little development or screen-time that I don’t even remember their names. When the squad – investigating the disappearance of Bravo team – finds themselves pulled through a mysterious, lightning-infused portal, they wind up in a vast desert; quickly surmising that they are in a different world due to the presence of enormous skeletons and the sudden appearance of a Diabolos, a giant, pissed-off horned creature that burrows under the sand dunes. As the last survivor of the attack, Artemis finds herself stranded on a large rocky outcropping in the desert, safe from the Diabolos but unguarded from the other monsters that stalk the area. Joined by Tony Jaa’s unnamed Hunter, who himself was stranded after his sand-sailing pirate ship was attacked, the pair fight for survival as they travel towards a mysterious dark tower on the horizon, inexplicably convinced it is Artemis’ route back to Earth.
No surprises here, the performances are slightly less than Oscar-worthy, with enough cheesy dialogue to fill one of those ridiculous pirate-ships. Jovovich embraces the strong and silent archetype that she perfected in the Resident Evil franchise, commanding the screen at all times with a calm, ready-for-action demeanour even when facing off against a fire-breathing dragon. There are attempts to soften her character and provide some sort of a back-story – she bonds over a love of chocolate with Jaa’s hunter and carries a wedding ring around – but these largely fall flat, inconsequential when all the audience really wants is to see giant monster fights. Tony Jaa’s character is the more interesting of the two; a native of the monster-filled world, he is our insight into the strange things we are seeing. His background is genuinely compelling, having had his family decimated by the aforementioned dragon and setting out on a personal quest for revenge, but it is the martial artistry Jaa displays that is really the standout. Known by Western audiences primarily for his work in Fast & Furious 7 but internationally drawing comparisons to Jackie Chan for his starring role in the Thai Ong-Bak films, Jaa shows incredible athleticism in multiple fight scenes with Jovovich. Flipping, twisting and jumping around the confined spaces in which he clashes with her, the man is a marvel to watch, it’s just a shame the editing doesn’t allow the audience to see that fluidity, hiding the fact that Jovovich is slightly out of her league in these encounters.
The ridiculousness and the cheesiness are par for the course in a Paul W.S. Anderson film but Monster Hunter’s most egregious sin is its editing. All the audience wants to see is these fearsome creatures in their element; chomping, stinging and charging their way through hordes of enemies, or in this case a measly squad of soldiers and their almost superpowered captain. The creature design is immaculate – even if there are only a handful in the entire film – looking as close to their video game counterparts as you could want, but Anderson never settles his camera long enough to give you a look that lasts longer than a few seconds. The initial confrontation with the Diabolos should be a highlight, our introduction to the danger of this newly discovered world. In actuality it boils down to seemingly random, disparate shots of the enraged beast roaring and charging, interspersed with shots of flipping trucks and flying bodies. It’s impossible to tell what is going at times to the point where I thought one person was crushed under a car only to see them speared with a horn a few minutes later. This choppiness extends to all the action scenes in the film, which make up majority of the run-time, leaving you scratching your head as to why Anderson seems unwilling to showcase his big-budget behemoths in a way that will make the ride enjoyable and give them the terrifying screen presence they deserve.
The editing is further exposed as the prime culprit by the – and I hesitate to use the word – story, which correctly places all the focus on the towering creatures. Unfortunately, there is literally no explanation of anything else. How did Artemis and her team get to this new world? What is the mystical force that controls the dark tower and its lightning storm accoutrement? The film attempts to answer none of these, preserving the mystery for what will assumedly be an overly complex explanation in future instalments. Not answering those questions would be fine if the characters we did spend time with were reasonably developed so that the focus could then be shifted to those mysteries in future films and we are invested in the characters. All we get here follows a very bland pattern of an overly long, frustrating fight followed by interactions between Jaa and Jovovich that essentially boil into hand-to-hand combat or bonding over chocolate – that is as deep as it gets. When other inhabitants of the world are introduced later in the piece, it raises more questions than it answers, with Ron Perlman’s unnamed Admiral expounding on the mystery of the tower only to say that no one really understands it. I guess that includes the writers? The ending of it all is hilariously bad, introducing a random additional monster with absolutely no commentary or backstory as to what it is or how it got there. Sure it looks good but honestly why do I care at this point?
Monster Hunter had one job to do: give fans of the games a compelling excuse to see these monsters they’ve spent countless hours fighting rampaging across the big screen in all their glory. What should have been a fun, thrilling ride is ruined by poor editing and the lack of compelling characters or a comprehensible story. Jovovich continues to do what she does best as a badass action hero bravely squaring off against the behemoths and Tony Jaa injects some much needed energy but it is all for nought in a thoroughly uninteresting big-budget adventure. If the wacky, nonsensical twists and turns of Anderson’s Resident Evil franchise are what you’ve come for then look elsewhere, you will be disappointed here. If, however, you feel like inducing a headache, then this might just be the film for you.
Monster Hunter stars Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Meagan Good, Josh Helman & Ron Perlman – In cinemas now.