Film Review: Monster Hunter

Brianna Sloop, IV Leader Staff

The movie Monster Hunter is directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and features cast members including Tony Jaa, Milla Jovovich, Tip Harris, Meagan Good, Josh Helman, Diego Boneta, Ron Perlman, and Jin Au-Yeung. The film, released in the United States on Dec. 4, 2020, is based on a video game series.

Monster Hunter has an interesting plot involving soldiers being “teleported” to a different world that has monster-type creatures. The biggest monsters are known as diablos, although the creature kills most of the soldiers, Captain Natalie Artemis is taught how to fight the monsters by a character known as Hunter.

Later we are introduced to the rest of Hunter’s group and they fight against the monsters in a war to save their world. When Natalie is “teleported” back to the real world some of the monsters are teleported with her. Since the monsters were from the other world, Hunter and his team decide to also go to the “real world” to help Natalie kill the monsters.

I liked the movie and thought that it was full of action and super fun to watch. I don’t think that the movie had a very in-depth plot; however, it was interesting and had a lot of action scenes. I had never played the video game; therefore, I did not have experience or background knowledge on the concept behind the movie.

Those who played and adored the video game  seem more likely to dislike Monster Hunter. The video game lovers say that the movie is a poorly written game to movie adaptation. However, people who have not played the video game are more likely to enjoy the movie based on the interesting plot and the fun action scenes. Critics have rated this movie a 3.5 out of 5, stating that the movie is good and fun but lacks a unique plot and does not necessarily have what it takes to be considered great.