Review: 'Monster Hunter' is Incredible Action-Adventure Fun

Full disclosure: I know nothing about the video game that Paul W. S. Anderson's new action thriller, "Monster Hunter," is based on. Nor the resulting anime, or any of the sequel games. Nothing. So this review is solely going in as a fresh audience member to a pre-established IP I am clueless about. All I know is what is being presented to me as rock 'em sock 'em monster bashing entertainment. And you know what? It's fucking fun.

The concept of the game and the resulting film does require a lot of acceptance of another world that doesn't make total sense, but it is what it is. Here, we have a group of rag-tag soldiers led by Lt. Artemis (Mila Jovavich) who are on a mission in the desert when they are confronted with a super sandstorm that sucks them into an alternate dimension. There, they are immediately attacked by giant, scaly monsters they are forced to do battle with using limited resources.

While fighting creatures they never knew existed, they are assisted by a "Mad Max"-ian Hunter played with compact athleticism by Tony Jaa. After Artemis' company is wiped out, the two must find common ground in order to escape the various giant creatures that want to eat them.

While "Monster Hunter" is basically a monster mash-up of "Tremors," "Starship Troopers," and "Aliens," (with a little "Guardians of the Galaxy" thrown in for good measure), the action, humor, and surprisingly charming performance by Jovovich makes this throw-back creature feature incredibly entertaining.

The inability of Artemis and The Hunter to communicate is rife for misunderstanding, conflict, and humor. Meanwhile, Jovovich has a blast poking fun at her action hero self and even action movie clich�s. At the same time, she still kicks a lot of ass and looks better than ever!

Jaa also boasts a fair amount of charisma and when the two fight, it results in a crazy, bone-crunching match up.

Truth be told, the monsters – while I'm sure taken from game designs – aren't all that original. There's a hammerhead-style dinosaur that travels under the sand, creepy huge black spider things, and a dragon-style monster that, well, looks pretty much like a dragon. That said, they get the job done, and it is a credit to not only Anderson's ability to stage good action sequences, as well as the terrific sound design by Brandon Kim, that makes these sequences work so well.

Some set pieces run without music, which allows the massive sound and the moments of silence to be all that much more effective. I jumped more than once. The pop-synth score by Paul Haslinger is reminiscent of "Tron Legacy," which is a nice nod to the fact that this all started as a Capcom video game.

There are some weird things here and there, like Ron Perlman as an admiral in the alternate universe with a bad '80s rocker wig. And there's also a cat pirate that is hilariously delightful, and who I look forward to seeing more of if there's a sequel.

All in all, "Monster Hunter" might see like some sort of throwaway monster mash of an action film, but it's a lot more entertaining than you might think. It's 100 minutes you can happily use to get away from the monsters of this past year – politics, pandemics, and presidents – and revel in the mayhem on screen.

"Monster Hunter" opens in theaters December 30th.