Monster Hunter

Gamers worldwide, i think we need to show some respect, especially to actress Milla Jovovich. Not only is she one of the best female action actors out there, but she brought something unique with her portrait of Alice in the Resident Evil franchise. I know there have been a lot of different opinions about the Resident Evil films over the years, but i am actually a fan of this franchise, and that is mainly because Milla Jovovich was the best choice for the lead role. When she is kicking ass on the big screen, you can not deny that she did a hell of a good job with every film. It must have been tough, to pull off all those stunts, and make it look cool, but Milla knew exactly how to make it work. Next year it will be 20 years ( time flies by for sure ) since the first Resident Evil film came out, and this is one of those films i hope you have all seen. If you have not, let me tell you a little bit about this film. Loosely based on the video game called Resident Evil, this film tells the story of Alice ( Milla Jovovich ), who wakes up in a bathroom in a deserted mansion with temporary amnesia. A Group of commandos breaks in into the mansion, led by James Shade ( Colin Salmon ). Alice is ordered to go down to The Hive, a genetic research facility, owned by the Umbrella Corporation. The commandos explain that eveyone in the group, except Matt Addison ( Eric Mabius ), is an employee of the Umbrella Corporation. Alice and her partner Spence Parks ( James Purefoy ) were assigned to to guard The Hive´s secret entrance under the mansion. They soon find out that the T-virus, have been used as a experimentation to create creatures. Resident Evil delivers a fun combination of horror and action combined, and you will recognize some influences from the video game. Director Paul W.S. Andserson clearly knew how to bring this video game adaptation to the big screen, in a surprisingly positive way. Milla and director Paul have worked together in several sequels to Resident Evil, and they seem to get a long very well. When i finally got the news early last year that they both would return in a new video game adaptation called Monster Hunter ( based on the video game ), i was really excited. Especially when the trailer was released, it looked like a lot of fun. I finally got a chance to sit down and watch Monster Hunter on VOD ( it is now out on digital, and should be available on DVD and Blu Ray by the end of this month in Sweden ). Is this another amazing collaboration between Milla Jovovich and Paul W.S. Anderson, or is the magic gone for good?

In the New World where humans co-exists with a wide variety of large and savage monsters, a Hunter, a warrior trained to hunt and kill these powerful creatures, is seperated from his team when their ship is attacked by Diablos, a horned subterranean creature. In the real World, United States Army Captain Natalie Artemis ( Milla Jovovich ) and her U.N. security team search for a missing team of soldiers in the desert. A sudden storm pulls them into a portal to the New World, where they find the soldiers dead, not knowing what happened to them. But as they investigate the desert, they are about to find out what really happened.

Since i have not played Monster Hunter as a video game, i have no idea if this film fails to capture the look or emotions of the game. So i will review this film, and just make my opinions based upon what i watched. If you are a fan of the Resident Evil films, i have a feeling you might enjoy Monster Hunter as well. These films don´t have much at all in common, since they are completely different in many ways. But you will recognize the style of director Paul W.S. Anderson, and that includes a lot of action, plenty of violence, and monsters as well, And this is something he managed to do well in Resident Evil, and he manage to do the same with Monster Hunter. This is a film for the 90´s generation who just want a fun action film, while having a big bucket of pocorn. This is not a film you take serious, but just enjoy for 90´s nostalgic reasons. And this is the biggest reason why i enjoy Monster Hunter, sometimes you just want a simple monster film that is made for a certain audience. How about the performance of Milla Jovovich? Well, if you enjoyed her tough attitude in the Resident Evil franchise, you will get to see her do some big action scenes once more. I think it is so much fun to see Milla do what she knows best, and that is to be an action star. If anyone can pull this off, then she is the one to do it. I would not say she bring a lot of new elements to her character in Monster Hunter, but i doubt that this is what people will be focusing on in a film like this. Legendary actor Ron Perlman have a hairpiece that looks like he came right out of The Lion King remake, and it´s pretty fun to see. Action actor Tony Jaa have no problem doing his scenes, since he knows how to entertain the audience with his wonderful personality. Any problems with Monster Hunter? Maybe that we don´t get to know the background story to these monsters ( only a few details are revealed ), that might have explained certain details in some scenes. Overall, i had a good time with Monster Hunter, it feels inspired by many monster films in the past, especialy the 1990 classic known as Tremors, wich is of course a nice surprise. If you can accept that this is not as good as the Resident Evil franchise, just let Monster Hunter entertain you for what it is, a fun monster movie. Director Paul W.S. Anderson proves once more why he can bring out the best in actress Milla Jovovich, i can´t wait to see what they will do next together. Maybe a viking film here in Sweden? Hey, that´s actually a pretty good idea.

Rating: DDD