Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A portal transports Cpt. Artemis and an elite unit of soldiers to a strange world where powerful monsters rule with deadly ferocity. Faced with relentless danger, the team encounters a mysterious hunter who may be their only hope to find a way home.
Monster Hunter (2020) is a serviceable but shallow video game adaptation. The plot is razor-thin — soldiers get transported to a monster world, survive, and try to get home — with minimal character development or narrative depth. Acting is functional at best; Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa do what they can with underwritten roles. Cinematography has some genuinely impressive scale and creature design moments, with Paul W.S. Anderson competently staging large-scale action sequences in visually striking desert environments. Novelty is low — it follows the well-worn Jovovich/Anderson video game adaptation formula closely, and the dimensional portal premise is familiar. The ending is abrupt and clearly sequel-baiting, leaving the story unresolved in a way that feels unsatisfying rather than intriguingly open.