Monster Hunter

We've done it. The Year of the Kaiju, 2022, has come to an end. And today we're concluding this blog with one of the most recent kaiju movies made, this one directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Monster Hunter stars his wife, Milla Jovovich, and Thai superstar Tony Jaa. This is the second film we've covered on this blog inspired by/based on a video game, so apparently giant monsters and video game films go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Paul W.S. Anderson apparently developed an interest in making this film after being introduced to the series in 2008. This one was a long time coming, with rumors for development happening as far back as 2012. Amusingly, when the video game Monster Hunter: World was a major success, some studios poked around to get the rights to make a film but were surprised to learn that Anderson had already done it long before. That's about as far as it goes for background info: this movie is the culmination of a man living his dreams and that's cool.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In a reality called The New World, a ship sails across the desert, and the sailors onboard are attacked by some unseen beast. In our world where we don't have ships that move on sand, Natalie Artemis and her UN security team are consumed by a giant sandstorm and transported into the other world.

- Shortly after arriving in The New World, the team is attacked by the giant Diablos and barely escape with (some of) their lives.

- Regrouping in a nearby cave, the remaining team is attacked by giant spider-like creatures called Nerscylla which capture Artemis and kill the remainder of the team.

- Waking up in the Nerscylla nest, Artemis mounts a daring escape and finds her last remaining squad member before realizing he's infested with Nerscylla eggs and they hatch out of his body.

- Barely making it out alive and now braving the barren desert by herself, Artemis is confronted by The Hunter, a local from the area who is willing to teach her how to survive this New World. After several exchanges where they attempt to kill and also save each other, they make peace and form a fragile alliance.

- Hunter's plan is to use Nerscylla venom to poison the Diablos, allowing them to make it across the desert to the obelisk which seems to be the key to returning Artemis home.

- After a dramatic battle, Hunter is badly injured but Artemis stands victorious. With the path to the obelisk (The Sky Tower) wide open, she instead chooses to carry Hunter back across the desert and resuscitates him.

- Making it to an oasis, Artemis and Hunter manage to relax for a bit before a Rathalos arrives and scares the local animals enough to cause a stampede which endangers them. Hunter's crew from the first scene arrive to help, rescuing them both before taking Artemis captive.

- Making a plea for her case, Hunter is able to convince his captain (The Admiral, who can speak Artemis' language) to free Artemis. He explains that the Sky Tower allows her people to come into the New World, and he believes Artemis' people pose a real danger to his own. If he gets her through the gate again, he can destroy the tower behind her and protect his world from hers.

- They all team up to get Artemis to the Sky Tower, the bad news is they'll have to endure the giant Rathalos to do so.

- Once at the tower, the Rathalos predictably attacks. Everyone puts up a valiant effort and Artemis is thrown from a cliff as the Sky Tower activates and she finds herself back in her homeworld.

- Just after arriving, a rescue team discovers her and brings her back to safety. Just as they take off in a helicopter, the Sky Tower activates once more and the Rathalos flies through and crashes their helicopter.

- The collected military units retaliate, but the Rathalos wreaks havoc upon them. Artemis, remembering the one weakness she was told they have, regroups and collects weapons.

- Confronting the Rathalos, Artemis does a fine job until she's ultimately outclassed by the giant dragon. As it prepares to finish her off, the Rathalos is finished off first by Hunter using explosive arrows.

- The Admiral has followed Hunter (and the Rathalos) into the portal, and explains that the Sky Tower is now wide open and monsters from The New World are coming into Artemis'. 

- They make a plan to shut down the Sky Tower for good, but first they have to fight their way through all the monsters now coming through. The movie ends on a cliffhanger as the 3 attack another dragon looking monster.

Kaiju Notes 

- Diablos is an intimidating beast, some sort of combination of dragon and demon with black coloration in all the right places. It breathes fire, impales with its horns, and has a tail which is useful for whipping any fool who gets in the way. It's basically being a walking disaster for any who cross their path, especially because the guns that the military unit were using against it seemed entirely ineffective, meaning that without using the (largely melee) weapons of the homeland it basically couldn't be harmed.

- The Nerscylla are pretty boring giant spider monsters, but the scene where the eggs hatch out of one of the soldiers is pretty effectively gruesome. They're still spooky because spiders are spooky, but their apparently horrific lifecycle is what really makes 'em gnarly.

- Rathalos is really just a dragon, even down to breathing fire. Dragons are super cool, so it's not like Rathalos lacks coolness, but it's not the most exciting final boss (even if it is the most logical).

There is one notable element of this movie that I wanted to address first: the two main characters can only barely communicate. I actually really like this aspect of the film and it should really be utilized more in mainstream stories. Artemis and Hunter being functionally unable to speak makes the story much leaner than most would be, not spending whole scenes on exposition and nonsense while also building a relationship between two people naturally. In a movie with a distressingly thin plot already, it's an interesting touch that could be used to much greater effect if people filmmakers would just embrace it.

Monster Hunter, is... fine. This movie almost certainly did not change anyone's life and everything about it is pretty standard for the genre. There's very little "meat" on these bones, but everything is competent. As someone not especially familiar with the game series it's based on, I really can't speak on the film from a fan perspective. But like Rampage, which we covered on this blog, it is a relief that we are finally past the point where every video game-based film is total shit. This isn't as fun as Rampage (or even Sonic the Hedgehog, which is also far from amazing), but it's not the nightmare that many video game movies are.

The weapons used in the film are obviously based on the game weapons, but I do appreciate the way that the film embraces the game's "keep what you kill, build on it" concepts. The machine guns that the military characters bring into The New World are basically completely ineffective, outside of the (obviously rare) grenades. But since the weapons and armor of The New World are made from the creatures within it, they're also the most effective manner of fighting back against them. As far as a reason why traditional weapons don't work against the kaiju of the movie, it's a fairly good one. Artemis doesn't learn how to use the weapons and wear the armor because she's in a strange place and decides to assimilate into the culture but because not doing so will get her literally nothing but killed. It is also a relatively graceful way to avoid the "wise native" trope of so many films before it, something that would have been extremely easy to fall into with a plot like this.

That's about it. As far as the final film covered for this blog about The Year of Kaiju (2022), I'd hope that it would be more polarizing, but here we are. The monsters are all quite monster-y and some of the more brutal elements are very effective. Nerscylla actually add an interesting horrific element to the movie in contrast to the "giant, angry, dangerous" vibes that the Diablos and Rathalos give off. If they made a second, I probably wouldn't watch it, but if someone turned it on at a social gathering I'd stick around.

Next: 2023!