The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Film Review
THE major talking point coming from the release of “Monster Hunters” is centred on the unlikelihood of a sequel.
But others are looking at the start of yet another video game-inspired franchise from the husband and wife duo of Paul W.S Anderson and Milla Jovovich.
The film has so far grossed slightly above US$28 million from a US$60 million budget.
It seems like a bad twitch but remember their last collaborative effort “Resident Evil” initially grossed US$40 million from a budget of US$33 million.
The figure later shot to US$103 million making the flick one of the most polarising film franchises.
Critics hate it, but audiences adore it!
I belong to the latter category and today hold “Resident Evil” as standard by which all video game adaptations are judged.
I digress a bit.
In “Monster Hunter”, Anderson and Jovovich put their best foot forward.
They stay true to the tenets of the game itself and even go an extra mile by putting together an exciting cast.
The film tells the story of Natalie Artemis (Jovovich), a United States Army captain, who leads a five-man team into the desert in search of another unit that seemingly disappeared while on recon mission (reconnaissance assignment).
The team encounters a strange-looking desert storm that acts as a gateway and transports them to an alternate reality.
There, Artemis’s entire crew is killed off by mysterious monsters.
The captain survives and encounters the sole survivor only known as the ‘Hunter’ (Tony Jaa).
They initially fight but later on form an unlikely friendship.
The two encounter a variety of monsters, among them nerscyllas, diablos, apceros, rathalos and the gore magala, in their attempt to reach the portal and go home.
In true video game fashion, Anderson throws all tenets of storytelling out the door and drives hard into action, design and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).
While many will argue the CGI component leaves a lot to desired, the lazy-looking graphics allows Anderson to stay as true to the source material as possible.
I do not remember playing the game that much, but Anderson does enough to get a pass from me.
Jovovich goes full ‘Alice’ mode with the action.
She easily reminds the audience why she was such an integral part of the success of the “Resident Evil” movie franchise.
The film also falls in Tony Jaa’s wheelhouse, as the martial arts expert does little talking and mostly fights.
While Jaa and Jovovich carry the larger chunk of the film’s load, both in action and dialogue, there are also some memorable cameos.
Among the highlights is the trio of Tip ‘TI’ Harris (Lincoln), Meagan Good (Dash) and Jin Au-Yeung (Axe).
Still on cameos, Ron Pearlman (The Admiral) brief part in the film is a bonafide show-stealer.
There is an image of Pearlman, Jaa and Jovovich charging towards a monster at the end of the film that is sure to bring heavy doses of nostalgia for film buffs.
For those not in the know, the three are famed for bringing Hellboy, Ting (Ong-Bak; Mauy Warrior) and Alice (Resident Evil) to the big screen.
Now, imagine a crossover that brings all three characters together charging into battle.
The film’s open-ending and mid-credit scenes leave plenty of room for a sequel.
Also, there is the presence of a mysterious hooded figure that could be the franchise’s big bad and a battle with a scary-looking monster known as ‘Gore’.
We are also introduced to a cat-like warrior known as ‘Palico’, which is an original character from the video and has the ability to become a fan favourite going forward.
Fingers crossed for a sequel and franchise.
