Title - Monster Hunter
Studio - Screen Gems, Sony Pictures
Starring - Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, T. I. Harris, Ron Perlman, Meagan Good, Josh Helman, Diego Boneta
Writer - Paul W. S. Anderson
Director - Paul W. S. Anderson
Release - 30 December 2020
This adaptation didn't work. It's a very typical kind of take on a world that isn't the same as ours. Rather than creating this universe, Paul W. S. Anderson (and the studio, not sure whose idea was it initially) decided to create this alternate dimension that our hero Milla Jovovich could travel to. In other words, the easier way out.
And while there just wasn't enough budget to spend an entire movie fighting monsters, a big chunk of the first half was spent focusing on the humans. Even that drawn out fight between Jovovich and Tony Jaa was just fillers while we make the runtime a little longer. Worst thing was, after clearly trying to kill each other, they then became best of pals without any explanation.
Anderson is really good at the sci-fi horror parts, maybe he should dip his toes into a property like Alien. While I appreciated some of the horror bits in the beginning, especially with the spider's lair, the essence of the game itself was never present.
There were some fan service, with the game's side characters brought to life; but they were not even remotely significant. Ron Perlman's character was also based on the game, but the clunky explanation of how he could speak English, and Tony Jaa couldn't, was the lowest point of the story.
Most of the CGI went into creating the monster Diablos; and credit where credit is due, Diablos looked and moved exactly like in the game. But other than that, nothing else came close. And the ending, again, expected and trite.
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