Rent Monster Hunter (2020)

Starship Poopers - Monster Hunter review by AER

The makers of this film must enjoy being the big-budget underachievers they are. Paul WS Anderson is perhaps the worst script and story writer working at this level in Hollywood. All his high-concept movies are hilariously bad with zero characterisation or room for longeurs. Their MO is action, action, action until I fart. And in that respect Monster Hunter delivers, when it stops for breath it stinks. There is no plot logic or any real intelligence to any of this, but then I wasn't expecting any, but even for Paul WS Anderson and Milla Jovovich, this is very thin material. They didn't even write Tony Jaa's dialogue, he just mutters in an indecipherable dialect, and all the other people in the film got wiped out quickly (sometimes off-screen) pity Tip Harris, Meagan Good, and Diego Boneta - they have zero to do. Even luckier is Ron Perlman in one of his strangest roles as The Admiral. He looks like an aged version of a power ballad singer, and he really looks like he's would sooner be elsewhere. Monster Hunter is occasionally fun, it's not excruciating, but with a bit more effort this could have been really cool like Pitch Black or Starship Troopers.... I didn't think they made them like this for the cinema anymore!

Hilariously bad in every way.

2 out of 10

Badly paced unfinished rubbish - Monster Hunter review by Lord

This film spends so much time in the desert it runs out If time to have an ending, most the cast are killed quickly so not to give them any lines and the remaining cast get forgotten in the character building department. The palico chef is oddly massive and aggressive rather than cutesy. The admirals look is more monkey than leader warrior. The music is another massive miss, none of the official tunes play out not even the creature signature tunes. All are replaced with a awfully ill fitting score. And after an hour and half the film ends leaving you feeling completely bored and trying to understand why it ends where it does. (In complete) 

Imaginative visual spectacle - Monster Hunter review by Alphaville

After the cgi bores of the Marvel franchise, it’s refreshing to see a monster movie in which only the monsters are cgi. The South African scenery is fantastical, from the Namibian desert to the rock domes and caves of the Cederberg mountains. Real landscapes make the monsters seem more realistic and director Paul WS Anderson films the vistas with a sweeping camera that’s a joy to watch. When a film opens with a ship sailing through sand dunes, you know you’re in for something interesting. It’s based on a video game, but for once that’s irrelevant.

Bad-ass Milla Jovovich leads a team of expendable soldiers, Tony Jaa executes his trademark wire-free stunts and it’s all-action with no dull talking-head scenes. In an echo of Hell in the Pacific and Enemy Mine, the two leads don’t even speak the same language. Cue a treat of a crunching fight. As an east-west collaboration, there’s also some Chinese fantasy elements thrown in for good measure. Add to that a pulsating electronic score instead of boring orchestral muzak.

The result is a smorgasbord of sets and action that never dips for a minute. The crew came to call it “Lawrence of Arabia with monster hunters”. It won’t suit anyone who prefers indoor character-driven conversational scenes populated by luvvies (as certain reviewers seem to want), but if you want to see a proper movie and loved Starship Troopers look no further.