Clumsy monsters, which look more like dolls than alive. Weapons and armor that look more like costumes than costumes. A desert vision, in the most literal sense, of a world that should fill the screen with epicity and wild environments. Very little can be rescued from the Monster Hunter movie of Sony Pictures y Constantin Films beyond the performance of Jovovich mile and a Tony Jaa No understandable dialogues. But the most painful thing is how it tiptoes or directly ignores the video game saga which, to make matters worse, is its raison d’être.
And it is that if we have learned anything since the premiere of the Super Mario Bros. movie, the one by Bob Hoskins, it is that it is not necessary to cling to what happens in a video game to offer a good adaptation. Paul W. S. Anderson he knows it well: his Mortal Kombat movie was and still is faultless. His foray into Monster Hunter, however, is nonsense on many levels. What’s more, his calamitous pace added to his simplicity make the fan of the games feel defenseless and almost hopeless before his 103 minutes of footage. A shame.
And that the tape starts well, for the record. A huge sailing ship crossing a sea of dunes with an aesthetic that seeks and manages to replicate the opening bars of Monster Hunter World. But past the opening scene, Anderson’s film goes downhill and without brakes. He takes us out of the world of Monster Hunter to take us to the real world to introduce us to the protagonist, the leader of some United States Army Rangers, and then he brings us back leaving the group completely disoriented in a desert. A Isekai manual, but raised very badly and clumsily.
But what is truly dramatic is not any of the above, but how within what the film is, we are transferred to the worst of the action cinema formulas of three or four decades ago. With resources and scenes that do not contribute anything to the viewer and too superficial nods to the video game on which they are based. Resting the enormous weight of the project on the shoulders of a Jovovich who does what he can and a co-star (no less than Tony Jaa) who seems the only one determined in the entire film that there is something from the Capcom saga in the footage.
And despite the fact that the film falls apart at times, which is a drama, there is still a last act in which Paul WS Anderson, as screenwriter, constantly stumbles scratching minutes in stoppage time to leave the viewer at the gates of a sequel that, if it follows the course of this film, should not happen. And that, as we will see, the game creators were genuinely excited about what was shown. Which brings us to the main topic: what is Monster Hunter the movie about?
A Ranger and a colossal beast, but who’s the hunter and who’s the prey?
Given her training, experience and determination, Captain Natalie Artemis (played by Milla Jovovich) should be prepared for any eventuality, no matter how extreme. What has happened to her is far beyond her. She finds herself alone, bound and fully aware that even if she manages to escape she won’t get very far from her: beyond the walls are wild beasts capable of gulping her down in one bite. But worst of all is that he is far removed from the world he came from.
What began as a rescue by the missing Bravo Team, a United Nations military squad, turned into an investigation through a desert. No trace or sign in sight. Not long after, they will stumble upon the answer: after being trapped in a storm, Captain Artemis and her team reappear in a desert that does not appear on their maps.
In fact, they will soon discover that it is a New World: little by little, the rescue mission finds what remains of the Bravo Team. Basically charred bodies and vehicles, and not long after the reason is planted under their noses: a colossal creature of enormous tonnage emerges from the sand and those that are not crushed or eliminated by it end up being preyed on by other arachnid creatures that inhabit the sand. the nearby caves. The use of firearms is completely useless.
Now, only Captain Artemis remains alive.
Being aware that in this hostile world your options are reduced to two. Trying to move through some dunes inhabited by a large monster or consuming herself in a cave full of nauseating arthropods that are eager to devour her.
Fate or chance aligns, and while she’s technically lost two squads, she’s not alone in this situation. An inhabitant of this world, a hunter (Tony Jaa), has been surviving in the caves trapped by the same beasts as Artemis. Feeding on what he hunts and the moss on his walls. Naturally, he doesn’t trust her and has her conveniently tied up until he finds out a little more about her. Of course she doesn’t trust him either.
Forced by adversity, they decide to start an alliance to fight Diablos, the enormous beast of the desert. The hunter trains her and prepares her by offering her weapons, armor and even a sling. If used in any way they won’t even tickle the monster, but if they are wielded with determination there will be a chance to escape.
What Monster Hunter lost when making the leap from video games to the big screen
the plot of monster hunter the movie It is not based on any video game nor does it have the slightest intention of relying on them. Borrow the monsters and dress up the New World hunters, who don’t appear as much as they should, in a similar way – with reservations – to what’s seen on consoles and PCs. But at its core, the movie is what it is: an isekai from a manual in which the protagonist goes from being a soldier to a hunter in record time.
Once he does, and when it seems the truly crude script has passed, the tape runs out of footage and begins to stumble upon its own events, falling flat on its face in its final bars.
I can understand the underlying message: when the Monster Hunter movie was released, it was in the process of expanding worldwide and enjoying the well-deserved honey of success after Monster Hunter World. So the analogy almost makes itself: a stranger to this world and accustomed to the use of submachine guns must reinvent himself to adapt to the rawness and epicness of Monster Hunter. Unfortunately, this movie is seriously lacking in epicness. Too much.
As we discussed at the outset, there are three key elements that define Monster Hunter: towering beasts, awesome weapons and armor, and savage environments where the former two shine on screen. And despite the fact that there is a little bit of that in the almost two hours of tape, it does not reach the minimum that we can expect from a saga that, without being as popular as Street Fighter o Resident Evilalso from Capcom, is deservedly considered cult.
And what do the creators of the game think? Well, as you can see just above, they were basically delighted with what was shown. The design that is made of the monsters is very aligned with what is seen on PS4, Xbox One and PC, but their behavior and their presence It reminds more of the monsters from Star Wars. Not the ones from the prequels or the sequels, but the ones from the original trilogy, and without the charm of classic special effects.
But even if it gave the size on the screen, at the presentation level, we would run into the same problem: does not contribute anything to the viewer. It does not intend to get into the game enough and indulges too much in the clichés of that Hollywood that for a couple of decades baked action heroes without paying too much attention to the recipe or the flavor.
The one that has inspired Capcom so many times and that is a guilty pleasure for so many of us, but that stops working the minute you think you’ve seen enough or ask yourself if you really want to finish watching the movie. . In that aspect, the rhythm and the end of monster hunter the movie
iGamesNews’s opinion
There are two movies in the Monster Hunter by Paul W. S. Anderson. One of them wants to bravely break the limits of the video game saga and build ties with the most popcorn-loving Hollywood. The other represents the worst of action movies without ideas and that relies almost entirely on the value of the brand itself to contribute something to the viewer. The big problem is that the second unceremoniously devours the first, like Devils the unfortunate squadron of Captain Artemisa.
Adapt the saga Monster Hunter It’s not easy, that’s for sure. And it is not a question of production, but of something as basic as conveying the essence of a video game in which epicness and wild battles against colossi, both on our own and as a team, have turned its exquisite mix between action and role in a vibrant show. And, in the process, an international smash. the reality is that this is exactly what Anderson’s film lacks.
There are fights, yes. At least three and they are more a succession of almost improvised events than an encounter between hunters and prey in which both end up exhausted by giving everything. And despite the fact that the models of the few beasts that are presented in the movies recreate the appearance of Monster Hunter Worldhis involvement in the film is not much different from thrillers featuring killer animals.
In fact, it is still striking that the original plot, which ends up fading to complete extinction, seems more like a tribute to Resident Evil what has Monster Hunter: The Alpha team comes to the rescue of the missing team and ends up opening Pandora’s box. Only instead of STARS agents they are Rangers and instead of fighting zombies they are slaughtered by beasts. It has nothing to do with it on the screen either, but the question manifests itself: coincidence or homage? Definitely a mistake.
Perhaps, just perhaps, if the film had focused more on offering better treated final bars and a more satisfactory closure, the final result could have been redirected. Not towards excellence or what we can consider a good adaptation, but simply to offer an entertaining production for the big screen based on a video game. With more minutes to the hunter scenes, than there are, and less footage to a simple desert escape what tabona completely the rhythm of the movie
A bad combination that, by the way, is not an isolated case. The most recent adaptations of Constantin films based on Capcom games stumble both in approaching and moving away from the source material; including the not recommended Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City or the recent Resident Evil series for Netflix.
But in the end we ran into a manual case: monster hunter the movie It is the umpteenth attempt to bring videogames brimming with their own identity, those that set the stage, to a different medium and, in the process, replicate on screen what other action films have done. until only the most superficial remains in sight. But the bottom line is that the mere fact of not being the only film based on the Capcom saga also ends up working against it.