Monster Hunter (2020)
Join the hunt.
Guess what dropped on digital finally? I loved the game (especially World), and had some pretty specific expectations when they said a movie was getting made by Paul W. S. Anderson. Look, he’s made some good stuff before - heck, the original Mortal Kombat movie is still one of the best game adaptations around - but lately his stuff has been kind of…well, it’s not great. The trailer does show monsters that look like I recall, and have at least some costumes that look ripped out of the game though, so if nothing else it should be visually pleasing as long as Anderson can keep that ADD in check. Farm that wyvern gem and pet your palico, tonight we watch Monster Hunter.
Lets talk about story. Aha ha ha ha, ha ha ha. Sorry, alright, so things go like this - we see some hunters sailing on a boat towards some fancy evil looking tower when they get ambushed by some Diablos. After one gets knocked off, we cut over to the modern world, with a small group of soldiers. for the next half our or so, we spend some uneventful time in the cars with them as they talk random banter until at long last they get ripped through a powerful, spooky looking storm into a new world. After we get rid of all the soldiers expect our main hero, her and our hunter from before have to learn to get along to deal with their mutual roadblock - the Diablos hanging around in the sand outside their rocky hiding spot. Will they be successful, and will the soldier find her way home?
Look, I’m not going to say there’s a super heavy duty in depth and philosophical story for the average Monster Hunter game - although they do all have things there. I think the biggest thing making this movie’s story feel so lame is the inclusion of the everyday normal soldiers into it. We have to dumb things down, because the lay-person needs an insert to get into action. This means a good half of the movie is just soldiers introducing themselves to the camera with no major moments of personality to shine through enough for the watcher to attach to, only to wipe it clean and give you a fish-out-of-water miscommunication team up movie between what remains. If you think you might be getting some “order of the food chain” story about how ecology balances out, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you’re expecting a pretty generic hollywood story, then you’ll find yourself in the right spot.
Acting is pretty decent. There’s some oddities in here, like the group I watched with agreeing that Ron Perlman felt like he was trying to be Will Farrell trying to be the character. I guess the best way to sum it up would be generic acting - nothing here really blows you out of the water - but that might be a little bit of a disservice since it’s also not really bad either. There’s a few times when an actor can bring some good levity to the screen with their chops or facial expressions, and overall they do a pretty good job. There really isn’t much time for anyone to become an “annoying character” - unless it’s the soldier or the hunter, since that’s the majority of the movie is just those two. Still, line deliveries, body language, and overall facial expressions are all acceptable and at times better than expected.
Team sandy britches
There’s one thing that you are coming to this movie for - and that’s the monsters. Monsters here certainly falls into the effects category, but you know what? They did real good. They talked to the people who put them into our hands in interactable format, and on looks alone they feel like some respect was payed. There’s even some degree of animal-style acting going on with them that feels largely appropriate. Of course, the actual fight-side of things towards the monsters is largely changed from the games, given that there is no “health bar” to work your way through. It also can feel a little weird that an everyday human can pull off some of the moves that get pulled off against these things (I’ve always felt that hunters were a breed apart humanoid) whilst also establishing that the hunter doesn’t really seem to be much more durable or stronger then said garden variety human - but you know what, that’s fine. There’s little tidbits in there with how the monsters act that can let you appreciate it when it happens if you a fan of the games.
Visually the things are dang impressive. I mean, whew doggy do they look good. If they decide to put out one of the games and make it look that good, my poor computer is going to be crying for more hard drive space for sure. Little details, like full on eyes with pupils and the likes, inside and outside details like scales and volatile chemical mixes, and the “I totally didn’t need this” inclusion of the spider type monsters for such a large section of the movie really make it a pleasure to watch. Well, at least everything except the spider bit - but I’m sure people who wouldn’t consider that set to be their own personal hell probably would enjoy that stuff a bit more than I. What chaos happens related to real things looks great - people getting speared by horns, cars rolling all over, explosions - as you would expect from Hollywood and real things. What things happen with fake things also looks great - getting flung about, blasting through sands, ripping stuff apart, or stampeding on fire. If you haven’t caught on yet, the movie just plain looks good.
There is a dark side though, much like hearing the blazing horns of a bagel while in the middle of a battle. Camera work is good, visuals are good, acting is alright, fight scenes are pretty nice - but I swear part of Anderson’s M.O. these days is to just try and give people whiplash. I don’t know if maybe him or whoever he keeps hiring to do the editing gets bored easily, or thinks a moment not filled with motion is a cardinal sin or what, but it can get pretty rapid fire with the cutting when it never really needs to. Occasionally, one in a blue moon it actually works out pretty well when they cut like that, but most the time it’s just annoying. This is made up for somewhat by the movie legitimately feeling light hearted and goofy at times, but even still, I wish this guy would forget how to use cuts in the edit room (feels like they really might have already) and let a scene breath every now and then.
Somebody on the lookout for fast food.
The movie gives what you expect - a bleh story about soldiers trippin’ worlds and battles with a few big monsters. Would I have preferred leaving the modern world out of it entirely? Probably, but at least it gave me a few laughs. Was I outraged by the lack of barbecue cue song? Yes, but it doesn’t add anything outside of reference so it wasn’t needed anyways. Was I confused by the synth-laiden soundtrack? Yes, but I can get behind it. It’s still not exactly the greatest adaptation to ever be made, but you know what? It’s surprisingly good. If the editing was a little more steady and gave action a bit more room to breath, it could have been a skip better, but even when the movie has nothing going on in it, it doesn’t feel long (I thought I had been watching the first half hour of the movie for only about ten minutes). In fact, I guess you could say that if you had your expectations really low, you might even have found this to surpass them quite happily.