Video Game Flicks: Monster Hunter (2020)

So, those Monster Hunter games. They're a pretty popular franchise, aren't they? Well, I'm so out of the loop when it comes to video games that, when this film came out, I had no idea it was even based on one, even though this particular franchise has been ongoing since 2004. In case I haven't mentioned it before, up until 2006, all I ever had were Nintendo consoles, so if it wasn't on one of them, odds are I never heard of it (plus, it sounds like those games are partly RPGs, which I'm not very big on). In any case, I saw a few TV spots leading up to its release and it seemed like a fun, kaiju-inspired action flick (I also heard a bit about its Chinese controversy but didn't know the full details until just recently). Being one of the few movies released at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it came and went without much fanfare, and I didn't hear anything else about it. Then, the following June, while I was shopping around, I came across the Blu-Ray very cheap at Best Buy and figured I'd give it a shot. When I picked it up, that was when I first learned it was another video game-based movie starring Milla Jovovich and directed by her husband, and uninspired movie-making hack, Paul W.S. Anderson. Both of those facts gave me pause, one because, while I haven't seen any of those Resident Evil movies, I'm very well aware about their less than stellar reputation amongst both fans of the games and movie fans in general, and two, because of how terribly disappointing Alien vs. Predator was. But, since I'd already spent the little bit of money, and saw that Toho was involved in the movie's production, I figured I should, at least, give it a shot, which I did on the day after the Fourth of July. 

My initial thoughts can be best summed up by Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus: "A mindless blur of action, held together by the slenderest threads of dialogue and plot." Other critics share that sentiment, and I especially feel that way being someone who, like most of the mainstream ones, is coming at this with no knowledge of the source material. This movie drops you into this world almost immediately, with very little explanation about its nature or the deadly creatures that inhabit it, and with a bunch of characters, including the lead, who are utter cardboard and you don't care about at all. Save for Jovovich, they're all killed off fairly early on, and from then, it goes at a virtual mile-a-minute, with little room to breathe, as you watch her team up with the character called the "Hunter" and attempt to survive in this harsh landscape, while she also tries to find a way to get back home. It's a prime example of junk-food movie-making, all style and no substance, and it even looks and feels like the movie itself has severe ADD. Not only does the story go so fast and the characters have so little to them, but the action scenes are often shot and edited in a very kinetic manner, and though it's very stylized, it's in a way that makes it feel as though Anderson hasn't evolved past the tropes of the 90's. Plus, while the film does feature some characters from the games, and they're introduced in such a nonchalant way that it's clearly meant for fans, most of them don't seem to be too big on the movie anyway as, like in those Resident Evil movies, Anderson focuses it all on a main character who's not from the games. And, as you might expect, there's some lousy CGI when it comes to the monsters. The movie's not a total loss, as I do like the locations and settings, the interactions between Jovovich's character and Hunter are kind of endearing, the monsters are cool, and Ron Perlman is always a plus, but on the whole, I think it serves as further proof why they need to stop handing Anderson beloved properties like this.

In the "New World," an alternate dimension filled with monsters, a sand-ship is attacked while traversing a vast desert, and one of the crew is separated. Meanwhile, in the our world, a small team of soldiers working in Afghanistan as part of a security operation for the United Nations search for the missing Bravo team, who disappeared after sending out a distress transmission. Led by Captain Artemis, they discover that Bravo team's vehicle tracks suddenly come to a stop, as if they disappeared into thin air. A sudden storm whips up and, though they try to outrun it, it engulfs them and, within an instant, they find themselves in a completely different type of terrain, one made up of white sand dunes. They also find what's left of Bravo team, the vehicles and bodies of whom are charred, as though by impossibly intense heat, and later the skeletal remains of an enormous creature. They're then attacked by another huge creature that swims beneath the sand and take shelter in a cave, only to find that the specific island of rock in the desert is home to a colony of large, spider-like monsters, which kill everyone except for Artemis. Escaping their lair, she wanders about the rocks and comes across a graveyard of sand-ships. There, she runs into Hunter, the man separated from the rest of his crew, and is taken prisoner. After spending the night in his lair, Artemis manages to break her bonds and, following some more fighting, she and Hunter decide to work together to make it across the desert and reach a large tower in the distance that's the center of a raging storm. Artemis figures she needs to reach it in order to make back to her world, but the numerous deadly monsters that inhabit the land will make it a very dangerous journey.

As dubious as their reputation may be, those Resident Evil movies were big hits at the box-office, so it's not surprising that Paul W.S. Anderson was able to get his hands on the rights to another video game franchise... and another Capcom property, no less. Anderson said he became a fan of the Monster Hunter games in 2008 and was eager to turn them into a film franchise. After some years of negotiations, he and producer Jeremy Bolt, who'd worked with him on the Resident Evil movies, obtained the rights from Capcom. What's more, Anderson had, in fact, already written a script, but it went through various changes over the years before it was finally shot, with his inspirations being James Cameron's Avatar and Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as a brief crossover between the Monster Hunter and Metal Gear franchises in the game, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Anderson and Bolt went into this with the intention of making another series of movies, like with Resident Evil, but given how poorly Monster Hunter did, making only $44 million on a budget of $60 million (though, again, that was most likely due to the pandemic and the Chinese controversy, rather than the movie itself), I don't think the forecast for any sequels looks too good.

According to Anderson, the reason why he made the main character someone from outside the games was because, "I wanted to recapture the feeling of when I first played the video game. I came to the game not knowing anything about it. And as a stranger, I was immersed in this world containing these amazing landscapes and these amazing creatures that would kick my ass. And I thought, 'I want that. That should be the film going experience as well.'" To me, though, and I'm sure to a lot of people, it feels like an excuse to put his wife, Milla Jovovich, into yet another video game-turned-movie of his. Given how much I know it irks fans of the Resident Evil games that he focused the movies on her completely original character of Alice, I can imagine that Monster Hunter devotees likely felt the same way. It especially sucks that Jovovich's character here, Captain Artemis, is so bland that I didn't even know her name until the movie was almost over. Like Sanaa Lathan's character of Lex in Alien vs. Predator, they try from the get-go to lean into how Artemis is a tough-as-nails character right from the start, with her over-dramatic introduction and her telling her team, "Alright, ladies, saddle up." They also try to play her up as an inspiration and dependable guiding force to her team. When they first find themselves in the New World, in the middle of a desert that they don't recognize, with their Humvee not working and their navigational instruments shot, she says they'll follow the sun and head back to their base on foot if they have to (even though, she should be more concerned with figuring out just how they ended up in the strange place they are). She's also not as fazed by the monsters as you would expect, as she tells her unit, "We do what we do best: we fight and we survive!" And when she finds herself the only one left alive, they try to show her more sensitive side in how horrified she is over what happened to her team, as well as showing her kissing her wedding ring, determined to make it back. 

But, in the end, I couldn't care less about what becomes of Artemis. As I always say, I'll take a tough woman over a typical damsel-in-distress any day, and I like that Artemis has great survival skills and is adept at physical combat even before she becomes a pro at slaying monsters, but she's still got to be an actual character rather than just an archetype. I like her interactions with Hunter, especially when they become allies and develop a playful sort of banter, despite the language barrier,

there's a nice between her and her team where she's able to get them all singing the song, They Say That In The Army, and she's good enough to try to destroy the portal in order to stop the monsters from crossing over into our world, but that's about it. Plus, am I being too cynical, or does that armor she wears during the latter part of the movie feel like they're hearkening back to some of the outfits she wore in some of those Resident Evil movies (especially Retribution)?

The members of Artemis' unit are as one-dimensional and forgettable as you can get. Lincoln (Tip "T.I." Harris) is the most memorable, though mostly because he's the one who lasts the longest, and because he's probably the one who has the most confidence in her. He discovers the suddenly vanished tracks left behind by Bravo team, and when they later run afoul of the spider-like Nerscylla, Lincoln first tries to resuscitate Artemis when she's stung, and is forced to leave

her behind when more of them come. He also tries to help her escape the nest, only for a large swarm of Nerscylla babies to hatch inside him. Like Artemis herself, they give Lincoln just the barest of backstories, as they show him kissing a picture of his family at one point, the same way she does with her wedding ring. Marshall's (Diego Boneta) most noteworthy trait is that, according to him, he's managed to kill fifteen flies that day, and when they're trying to outrun the storm, he puts his

dog-tags around his boots, saying, "In case I get my head blown off, they can still tell who I am." Dash (Megan Good) is the one who knows that something strange is going after they, unknowingly, get whisked away to the other dimension by the storm. She's also the only one who has some doubt about Artemis' capabilities. When they get attacked by the Diablos and take cover in a cave, she starts panicking and questioning whether or not Artemis can get them out of there alive, in stark contrast to everyone

else. Steeler (Josh Helman) and Axe (Jin Au-Yeung), the respective driver and gunner of the Desert Patrol Vehicle that accompany Artemis' Humvee, get killed by the Diablos when he first attacks. Steeler is little more than a constantly smiling smartass who's always breaking Axe's balls (there are a couple of deleted scenes where he tells some off-color jokes whose punchlines Axe is able to predict). Axe is... well, he's the one Asian among the group, likes George Jones, and is the first one

to get killed (he goes out as something of a hero, though, attempting to help Steeler when he's pinned beneath the crashed DPV). He was also the center of the controversy that got the movie pulled from Chinese theaters: in a deleted scene that's not even in the extra features, he says, "Look at my knees!", and when asked, "What kind of knees are these?", he answers, "Chi-knees!"

After he's separated from his crew in the opening, the character known as the Hunter (Tony Jaa) observes the military unit when they end up in his world from afar. He attempts to warn them when they wander into the realm of the Diabolos, but they're so on edge that they take it as an attack and retaliate. Regardless, he tries to help them when they're attacked by the Diabolos and then the Nerscylla, but is forced to retreat when the latter come after him. When Artemis is the only one left standing, Hunter keeps tabs on her, and takes her prisoner when she wanders into a graveyard of sand-ships. He takes her back to his lair but doesn't offer her any food or water during the night. The next morning, she manages to escape her bonds and turn the tables on him, subduing him in the same manner. The two of them continue being antagonistic towards each other, with Hunter kicking over his lair's water supply when Artemis attempts to take a drink and she, in turn, knocks over some figurines he prayed to, almost causing them to fall into a fire. This enrages him to the point where, despite his hands being tied, he's able to right himself and attack her. But when he nearly falls into a Nerscylla nest, Artemis saves him, and offers him a Hershey's candy-bar as a peace offering; he reciprocates by giving her some water. From then on, they're allies, working together to make it across the monster-filled desert, with Hunter trying to reunite with his crew and Artemis attempting to reach the portal in order to make it back home. 

Their interactions are undoubtedly the movie's strongest examples of character-work, as it's endearing to see them working together and even developing a nice rapport, despite not speaking each other's language. I like how when, after Hunter has eaten the Hershey bar, he becomes obsessed with chocolate and refers to every kind of food as such. Also, when Artemis asks how they're going to get a hold of a Nerscylla in order to use its venom against the Diabolos, Hunter gives a cheeky

smile and, next thing Artemis knows, she's being used as bait. Though it works, she tells him, "Next time, you're bait!" And when they come upon an oasis, Artemis goes to get a drink of water, with Hunter giving her another one of those grins as he motions for he to do so. Suddenly, a Cephalos pops out of the sand at her and he quickly kills it, before pointing at her and exclaiming, "Bitch!" He meant to say "bait," but Artemis gets the meaning, telling him that she's not healing his wounds the next time

he gets injured. Speaking of which, they develop enough of a bond that, when Hunter is badly wounded during the battle with the Diabolos and they then get caught up in a sandstorm, Artemis drags him to safety, erects a tent around them, and uses her sophisticated medicine to save his life. This bond was forged when, before the battle, the two of them spent time preparing, with Hunter showing Artemis how to use his people's weapons and decked her out in armor. You also learn that the two figurines Hunter prays to represent his family,

who were killed by the monster known as the Rathalos, and when he's injured, he has delirious visions of them. Eventually, when the two of them meet up with the Admiral, Hunter is revealed to have been part of a mission to investigate the Sky Tower, the source of the portal between the two worlds.

Though he doesn't have much screentime until the third act, Ron Perlman is more than welcome in the role of the Admiral, a character who is from the games. Following the opening, where Hunter is separated from the others during the Diabolos attack, the Admiral and the rest of the crew come to his and Artemis' aid late in the film when a Rathalos attacks the oasis they're staying at. However, the Admiral, unsure if Artemis is trustworthy, knocks her out and has her locked up in his sand-ship's brig. Fortunately, Hunter vouches for her, and the Admiral unchains her. Because he's had contact with other people from the human world, he's able to speak English (you can't have Perlman in your movie and not let him use that great voice of his), and explains to her their mission to travel to the Sky Tower. Perlman manages to bring a toughness to the Admiral, along with a sense of dignity and a hint of world-weariness, as he tells Artemis that he's concerned about the effects her world could have on his. He adds that he believes the ancient civilization that created the Sky Tower and the portal was destroyed by their own technology, as well as possibly by contact with the other dimension. He also does have a sense of humor about him. When Artemis is rather taken with the sight of the cat-like Palico, the Admiral asks, "What's the matter? You don't have cats in your world?" And after the Palico brings him his dinner, he finds a string of fur in his mug and accuses him of drinking from it yet again, before tossing the fur aside. But above all else, the Admiral proves to be a badass in the battles with the monsters, and at the end of the movie, he, Hunter, and Artemis prepare to take on the monster called the Gore Magala, intending to destroy the Sky Tower afterward.

Other characters from the games, such as the Handler (Hirona Yamazaki), Lea (Nanda Costa), and Aiden (Jannik Schumann), make appearances here as part of the Admiral's crew, but they're little more than extended cameos (does Lea's outfit make anyone else think of Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender?). The three of them do take part in the climactic battle with the Rathalos at the Sky Tower, but they're taken out pretty quickly, leaving it to Artemis, Hunter, and the Admiral. And then,

there's the Palico (Aaron Beelner), a rather ripped, one-eyed, anthropomorphic cat whom Artemis first runs into when she escapes the sand-ship's brig and wanders into the galley. He's none too pleased when he sees her, threatening her with a knife and motioning for her to get lost, then gets to work making dinner like a boss iron chef (I've read that he's based on a character called "Meowscular Chef," from the game, Monster Hunter: World). When the party heads out towards the Sky Tower, the Palico actually smooches at Artemis and smiles

when she looks back at him (which is both funny, yet kind of disturbing). And during a mid-credits fight scene, he enters the battle against the Gore Magala, and looks as though he could kick some serious ass. As bad as the CGI that brings him to life is, and as taken aback as I was when he first pops up out of nowhere, I have to admit that I do actually kind of like this character.

It's amazing how a single movie can encompass everything that's problematic about a director's style, but Monster Hunter manages exactly that in less than two hours. I don't have a problem with the actual look of the film, as the bright look of the deserts of both Afghanistan and the New World, the latter which is almost completely white in a number of shots, the dark, the bluish feel to the nighttime exterior and interiors (obvious day-for-night when it comes to much of the former, and it can sometimes make things hard to see), and the 

lushness of the oasis and such, all look quite good. What annoys me is Paul W.S. Anderson's direction which, as I said, feels like it's still stuck in the 90's. For instance, the over-the-top way in which Artemis introduced, with the camera showing the back of her head and then her actual back, as she listens to Bravo team's distress signal, followed by a close-up of the map she's holding, trailing up to the recorder, a big, wide, rotating shot of her standing by her Humvee, another shot of her from behind as she replays the message, and a close-up

of the side of her head as she turns when Marshall calls to her. It's all so overly dramatic, and trying really hard to establish that she's tough-as-nails from the get-go. This kind of camerawork is prevalent throughout the entire movie, with lots of big, rotating wide shots, more of those behind the head and back shots, and melodramatic moments of slow-motion, as well as an almost 80's-style training montage between Artemis and Hunter, and a series of fancy dissolves for traveling scenes, like

when they're traveling through the desert. Sometimes, this cinematography does help show off the landscape and make it look quite good, but it often comes off like Anderson is trying way too hard to be stylish, as does the editing of images in rapid succession, like the shots of the team when they see the storm approaching and when the Palico is cooking in the galley. And speaking of editing, the battle scenes, especially the instances of hand-to-hand combat between Artemis and Hunter early on, are very often of that annoying, kinetic, shaky style that I absolutely cannot stand.

However, Anderson's writing may be even worse than his actual direction. This guy seems to think that writing characters as archetypes (the cool, composed tracker, the wise-cracker, the one doubting Thomas among the group, etc.) and giving some of them the bare minimum of backstory, with items like family photos and a wedding ring they occasionally focus on, is enough to make them relatable and likable. It isn't. As I've described, the characters are utterly one-dimensional, with much of Artemis' UN security

team ultimately being little more than cannon fodder for the monsters, while Artemis is someone you're supposed to root for simply because she's a tough woman and a survivor, when she's not developed or even charismatic enough for me to really care. Again, I like the scenes between her and Hunter, but it's still not enough for me to hope that she perseveres and makes it back home, especially since, because of the language barrier, there's barely any meaningful or understandable

dialogue during this long section of the movie. In fact, even though you also know next-to-nothing about him, especially since he doesn't speak  English, I find Hunter to be more of an interesting character, as well as a genuine badass, as you can tell he's well-equipped to survive being stranded in this hellish, monster-infested desert. I'd much rather have spent the movie watching him trying to make it back to his group, rather than coming across and befriending Artemis. And while I like the Admiral, despite his also being a paper-thin character, that's just because Ron Perlman is the man. 

Speaking of which, let's get into Anderson's method of adapting this video game series into a movie. Putting aside how it was likely an excuse for him to make his wife the action hero of another one of his movies (and another potential franchise), the notion that he wanted the audience to experience this world from an outsider's perspective in order to match the feeling one would have when playing the game for the first time is fundamentally flawed. Simply put, playing a video game and not knowing what's waiting for you

around every corner, or whether or not you have enough weapons, ammo, and health to survive, is a very different experience than watching a movie, where you're merely an observer watching it happen to someone else. Now, you can still make that work if the character is well-written and -acted, but as should already be clear, that's not the case here. As I alluded to up above, this film may have been more effective if we had just followed Hunter after he was separated from the others and

got to see this world through his eyes as he attempts to survive in the desert, battling both beasts he knows and others he doesn't, all of which would be familiar to those who've played the games and completely alien but, likely, cool to those who haven't. In fact, it may have been more satisfying to fans of the games, since it wouldn't be focusing on this character who isn't from the established lore, and a movie set entirely within the other world would've likely given the characters they've come to love more to do.

The frenetic pace is also a problem, as after the opening, Artemis and her team end up in the New World less than ten minutes in, and everyone else is dead before the thirty-minute mark. I know you'd want to get to the other dimension and the monsters as quick as possible, as that's what everyone comes to see, but that makes these characters feel all the more superfluous and mere padding for the cast. And it doesn't slow down from there, either, as Artemis and Hunter's journey across the desert and battles against the monsters

have very few moments of downtime, which makes it a mind-numbing blur. And finally, there's the ending, which is both a sequel-bait and makes the movie feel unfinished. The third act begins and now, we've learned that the Sky Tower and the remnants of an ancient civilization are responsible for the portal that brought Artemis to this world. Moreover, when she attempts to return home, the Rathalos that guards the tower follows her through the portal, kills those who attempt to rescue her, and nearly kills her, before Hunter shows up and

intervenes. Then, the storm and the portal reappear, and another monster, the Gore Magala, comes through. Now, the objective is to take down the tower in order to prevent more from making it to Earth. Artemis, Hunter, and the Admiral rush the Gore Magala, and then, the movie ends, save for the mid-credits scene where the Palico joins the fight, all as a mysterious, cloaked figure watches from atop the tower. I couldn't believe that Anderson and company decided to blatantly leave

things open for a sequel, so confident that they could create another franchise, as they did with Resident Evil. What's more, it feels like there's another twenty or so minutes that's missing, and which includes the real ending. Now, I'm glad it didn't go on any longer, as I didn't know how much more of this I could've taken, but that was just plain cheap.

I will give Anderson credit for shooting in actual exotic locations, namely in South Africa and Namibia, and modifying them with visual effects when necessary, rather than creating the New World entirely through CGI and green screen work. Their primary shooting location was around the Spitzkoppe peaks in the Namib Desert, which stood in for the rocky area in the middle of the New World's desert, while other spots around there was where they shot the scenes that take place in Afghanistan and the white, sandy desert. One of

the most noteworthy locations was Sesriem canyon, which serves as the canyon Artemis makes her way through before coming upon the graveyard of sand-ships and meeting Hunter. These locations are not only eye-catching but, with the constant hot, bright sun and sudden sandstorms, get across what a harsh, unforgiving place this alternate dimension is, even without the monsters. Speaking of which, the desert is the hunting ground for the powerful Diabolos, whereas the rocky area is where the deadly Nerscylla dwell below ground

in a massive hive of tunnels made from their webbing, coming out at night to hunt. And even the lovely oasis Artemis and Hunter find isn't completely safe, as the Cephalos can pop out of the sand without warning and the normally docile Apceros can be a danger if they stampede. The humans who live in this world are a very hardy bunch, using sand-ships to make their way across the dangerous desert, and armed with tough armor and weapons to fight off the monsters. And when

Hunter is separated from his crew, he makes himself a nice little lair in a cave, with a sliding hatch as a door, a fire-pit and spit, and a water source made from collecting the cave's moisture in a trough. This place, along with the practical parts of the Nerscylla's hive, the interior of the sand-ship graveyard, the oasis, the interiors and main deck of the Admiral's ship, and the area around the Sky Tower, are among the actual sets featured in the movie, built at Cape Town Film Studios in South Africa.

Speaking of the Sky Tower, it's part of the remnants of the advanced, ancient civilization that the Admiral believes was destroyed both due to their technology turning against them and also due to contact with strangers from Earth. During the climax, when the team of heroes make their way to it, you see the interesting structures left over from that race, one of the most striking of which is a temple near some waterfalls, with streams of water pouring out of the mouths of two large, carved heads that, from what I gather, are similar to a type

of monster from the games called the Lagiacrus. The tower itself is a very dark, ominous-looking structure, with a long, wide walkway dotted with pillars, sacred markers, and large torchieres, lava emitting from the tower's base that powers the machinery, burning torches here and there in the windows climbing up it, and dark clouds and flashing lightning above its roof, due to the portal itself. The place is guarded by the Rathalos, and there seem to be some inhabitants, given the

cloaked figure who appears atop the tower during the mid-credits scene, but who this person is and what exactly their connection is to the tower was likely intended for a sequel that, as I've said, I'm doubtful will ever get made (if any fans of the games know if this question was answered there, let me know).

Anderson was enough of a fan of the games that he intended for much of the armor and weapons from them to be featured in the movie, and even allowed some of the armor to be of a mix-and-match feel, which you can do in the games. Artemis' weapon of choice, which Milla Jovovich was able to pick out herself from playing the game, becomes the Dual Blades, which, when brought together, heat up and expels fiery blasts. She also makes use of a wrist-mounted, harpoon-like weapon called a Slinger, which can also fire projectiles. The

weapons known as the Switch Axe and Great Sword are used by various characters, including the Admiral, while Hunter makes use of the double-edged Insect Glaive, as well as a bow that fires various arrows, including exploding ones and others that release chalk as a type of warning.

The monsters featured in the movie are also taken from the games, and the director and producer behind the series had a lot of input into them. The first one we see is the Diabolos, this huge, horned creature that swims through the sands like a fish in water, sensing prey moving on the surface (kind of like Graboids), and which both separates Hunter from his crew and attacks Artemis and her team not long after they arrive in the other world (there are two in the opening, but only one afterward). When it's above ground, the Diabolos is akin to a 

quadruped, although its body is completely parallel to the ground atop a fairly pair of legs, but it can use its arms to sprint on all fours and brace itself on the ground, and it has a club-like tail similar to an Ankylosaurus. It's one of two major threats that plagues the characters throughout the first half of the movie. The other are the spider-like Nerscylla, which are like if you gave a giant spider a scorpion's stinger and the forelimbs of a praying mantis. They live beneath the rocky, craggy area in the desert, in a huge hive littered with the bones of

their victims and full of cocoons containing those they haven't devoured yet. They use their venom to immobilize their prey and spray webbing out of the tips of their stingers, while using their mandibles to do the actual killing. They're adverse to bright sunlight, but emerge at night through vents in the ground to forage for food. And they're also parasitic, as they not only lay clusters of their eggs from the ceiling of their hive but also inside living creatures, with the young hatching and consuming 

the host, as happens to Lincoln. Later, when Artemis and Hunter make it to the oasis, they come across some creatures called Apceros, which especially look like Ankylosaurs, only with turtle-like shells lined with spikes on the back end. Though they prove to be quite strong and are potentially dangerous when they stampede, being herbivores, they're not aggressive towards people. What is aggressive, though, are the Cephalos, which are like small dragons with webbed wings and heads akin to that of a Hammerhead shark. Like the Diabolos, they lurk in the sand and pop out to attack unsuspecting prey.

The Rathalos, the franchise's signature monster, is implied near the beginning, when Artemis and her team find what's left of Bravo team, whose remains were scorched by something much more powerful than even the hottest flamethrowers. However, he doesn't make his first appearance until Artemis and Hunter stop at the oasis, causing the Apceros to stampede in panic. As the guardian of the Sky Tower, he's the main obstacle for Artemis, Hunter, the Admiral, and the others, and proves to be just as dangerous and destructive as the Admiral

described, with his only weak spot being the inside of his mouth, before he shoots his fire breath. Said fire breath is quite potent, to say the least, and his immense strength and agility makes him all the more formidable. When Artemis ends up jumping into the portal and getting transported back to Earth, the Rathalos follows her and easily destroys the military forces that come to her rescue. Even when Artemis manages to slice into one of his wings and detonate explosives within his body, the

Rathalos still doesn't go down and he almost kills her. It's only thanks to Hunter, who also comes through the portal, that the monster is finally put down. Another flying, dragon-like monster, the Gore Magala, comes through the portal and the movie ends with Artemis, Hunter, and the Admiral rushing to battle him next. In addition to these onscreen monsters, not only are the Lagiacrus alluded to via the statues in that one temple but, shortly after Artemis and her team arrive in the New World, they find an enormous skeleton that is said to be that of a creature called a Dah'ren Mohran.

As I said numerous times when talking about the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies, Van Helsing, and such, the visual effects in Monster Hunter work best when they're used to create the world, be it through augmenting the actual location footage or creating things entirely digitally. Either way, many of the shots of the New World's landscapes look very impressive, with my personal favorites being when they climb these breathtaking mountains while making their way to the Sky Tower and pass through the remnants of the ancient civilization.

Some of those shots are so good that I thought they were possibly done in miniature (and some of them could be, for all I know), but I think they're mostly digital matte paintings; regardless, the blending of them with the live-action actors is pretty seamless. The storm and lightning effects created by the Sky Tower's portal, as well as the portal itself, also look quite good. But when it comes to the actual creatures, the effects suffer. Some of the monsters, like the Diabolos and the Nerscylla, look pretty

good (the latter benefit greatly from mostly being shrouded in darkness), but most of the others, including the Rathalos, are very clearly digital. And as much as I like him, the Palico looks especially cartoonish, and is one of the poorest examples of motion-capture I can think of in recent memory. But I do like how there appear to be some nicely gooey instances of makeup effects for moments like when Hunter digs a Nerscylla's venom source out of its severed stinger in order to make it into a weapon and when Artemis slices off a chunk of the Diabolos' flesh to use it as a travois for the injured Hunter.

Following a title card where we're told of the possibility of other, hidden worlds, the movie starts with our first look at the New World, as a sand-ship makes its way through the desert. While the Handler uses her goggles' spyglass to scan the landscape, focusing on the Sky Tower in the distance, the Admiral looks over some ancient texts, one of which has a drawing of the tower. However, the ship is being followed by a pair of large creatures swimming through the sand. The

ship begins to lightly but noticeably shake, catching the attention of both the Admiral and Hunter, down below. A Diabolos bursts out of the sand in front of the Handler and smashes through the side of the ship, knocking Hunter, as well as Aiden and Lea, off their feet. Both monsters slam into the ship's side, sending everyone running up to the deck, as a man falls off the crow's nest. A huge blast of sand in front of the bow flings the helmsman backwards and sends him slamming to

the deck. The Admiral swings to the helm and turns it, as the ship slams into the side of a large, jagged rock formation; he also grabs hold of the swinging mast and tries to steady it. A Diabolos emerges from beneath the ship and tips it upward, throwing everyone backwards. Lea nearly falls over the side but Hunter catches her, keeping her from getting flung into the Diabolos' mouth. Another man isn't so lucky, as he loses his grip on a rope and falls, smashing through the deck's railing and getting impaled on one of the Diabolos' horns.

The monster dives back into the sand and the ship rights itself, its bow slamming down hard. This knocks loose a barrel, which hits Hunter and sends him overboard. He's left behind in the monster-filled desert, lying unconscious on the sand.

Cut to our world, in Afghanistan, where Captain Artemis is introduced and told that Lincoln found a possible sign of the missing Bravo team nearby. On their way, they pass by some stone markers with an ancient style of writing on them. After a little bit of driving, they come upon Lincoln, who shows Artemis how the tracks left by Bravo team's vehicles seemingly disappear into thin air. Axe then spots a sudden, oncoming storm on the horizon and, worrying that hostiles may be using it

as cover, they decide to get out as quickly as they can. They quickly drive back down the road, but the storm is coming on them fast, prompting each of them to prepare for impact in his or her own personal ways. It quickly engulfs Axe and Steeler's Desert Patrol Vehicle, and the Humvee with everyone else. Lightning hits the ground around the vehicles, and when they pass by the markers, the lightning hits one of them, causing the others to light up and glow an unearthly blue. More flashes

lead to strange images and visions appearing ahead of them, and they then realize that they're heading straight for the edge of a cliff. Dash swings the Humvee around but it's too late and the vehicle goes over the edge. Everyone gets thrown around inside when it hits bottom and tumbles across the ground; suddenly, everything slows down considerably, as the vehicle passes through the portal. It slams down from a much greater height and tumbles a bit, before coming to rest. Artemis tumbles out and onto the sand, with flashes of the

strange visions and what they just went through going through her head. Marshall tumbles out as well, and as everyone else gets out, they realize they're someplace they don't recognize, and that the storm just vanished. They find that Axe and Steeler ended up their as well, a little banged up but, otherwise, unharmed. Artemis looks at her map, trying to figure out where they are, when she and the others see lightning flashing in the distance, around the Sky Tower. As they weigh their options, Artemis has Axe set up an observation point on

one of the sand-dunes. Dash manages to get the Humvee running again, when Axe calls Artemis up to the dune he's standing on. She and the other men join her, and down below, they find the scorched remains of Bravo team and their vehicles. They also find evidence of a firefight, as well as sand that was heated hot enough to become glass. With that, they decide to get moving. As they travel across the desert, they're watched from afar by Hunter.

The vehicles stop dead when they come upon an enormous skeleton; Dash suggests it could be a dinosaur, but Marshall says that no dinosaur was ever this large. Watching from his vantage point, Hunter aims his bow and fires an arrow, which hits one of the skeleton's rib-bones. He then shouts a warning at them, but when Axe spots him, he opens fire, as do Marshall and Dash. Artemis stops them, saying the arrow just released some chalk, but then, the ground starts shaking. Lincoln turns

and warns the others of something huge approaching them from behind. He prepares to fire on it with his rifle, but Artemis orders him back in the Humvee, then tells Dash and Steeler to both gun it. Manning the Humvee's roof-mounted turret, she fires on the monster as it chases after them, as do the others from inside the vehicle, and Axe in the DPV. Hunter runs and jumps across the rocks, trying to find a better vantage point, while the soldiers realize the monster is gaining on them. As

they continue firing, it digs down and then explodes out from under the sand right behind them, sending the DPV tumbling and landing on its side, while the Humvee swerves and comes to a stop. The Diabolos emerges from below the sand with a loud roar and stomps towards them. Axe tries to help Steeler, who's trapped beneath the overturned DPV, and Artemis fires on the Diabolos as it approaches them. Axe manages to get Steeler out right before he and the DPV are sent flying across the sand, slamming them into the side of a

large, jagged rock, killing Axe instantly. Artemis, Lincoln, and Marshall fire upon the monster, while Dash struggles to get the Humvee up and running again. Steeler grabs his own rifle and fires on the Diabolos, but it slams the sand in front of him with its clubbed tail, knocking him back. He runs to join the others in the Humvee, which Dash finally manages to get running. He rushes after them, Lincoln waiting in the back to pull him aboard, as the Diabolos chases them down. Steeler makes it onboard and they try to outrun the Diabolos, while

Lincoln grabs a rocket launcher. Before he can use it, the Diabolos flings the Humvee across the ground, landing it on its side and throwing three of them out. Steller and Dash attempt to crawl out, when the Diabolos impales the former on one of its horns. Before he expires, he pulls the pin on a grenade in his ammo belt and drops it down onto the monster's open mouth. The explosion is strong enough to blow the others off their feet, but it only aggravates the Diabolos.

Artemis tells the others to fall back and they run for the rocks, while she fires on the monster. She then runs after them, as the Diabolos chases her, turning back to fire on it. The Diabolos smashes the rocks with its armored head in its pursuit of Artemis, when Hunter lights and fires an exploding arrow from nearby. It blasts the side of the Diabolos' head, and it turns and sees him. But instead of coming after him, it continues pursuing the soldiers, who run for cover inside a cave. It

tries to shove its head through the cave's opening, breaking off a piece of one of its horns in the process, while they continue firing on it. It then gives up and walks back to the desert. As the sun goes down, Dash begins to panic, but Artemis tells her to chill out, that they're going to keep on fighting and surviving. She then tries to see how much ammo they have left between them, when a Nerscylla grabs her in its mandibles from behind and injects her with its venom. Lincoln aims and

hits the creature in one of its multiple, small eyes and it drops Artemis. The other two fire on it, driving it away, while he sees to Artemis. He and Marshall attempt to resuscitate her, but even when Marshall finds no signs on life, Lincoln refuses to believe she's dead. Throngs of Nerscylla appear from outside and swarm into the cave, forcing the others to try to save themselves, leaving Artemis behind. They run outside, into the night, firing on the creatures, as Hunter watches from nearby. The Nerscylla trap them into a very narrow gorge and

Hunter tries to help by blasting two of the monsters with exploding arrows. However, this alerts the Nerscylla of his presence and he's forced to retreat when one comes after him. While the others continue running for it, Dash trips and falls. The others try to help, when Marshall is snagged by webbing from behind and hoisted up to one of the Nerscylla. He empties his handgun into it, but it promptly kills him with its mandibles. Lincoln and Dash run for it, while elsewhere, Hunter runs back into his lair and closes the hatch on the Nerscylla

chasing after him. They continue firing on the Nerscylla while retreating, while back in the cave, Artemis regains consciousness. Still groggy, and with blurry vision from the venom, she rolls over and tries to crawl, as she can hear Lincoln and Dash yelling nearby. But she doesn't get far before a Nerscylla finds her and stings her again. 

Some time later, she awakens inside a slimy cocoon within the Nerscylla's hive and promptly claws her way out. Dropping into a puddle of water, she looks around, gasping and shuddering at the grisly sight of human remains all around her. She sees Dash inside an open cocoon next to her, but when she checks her hand, she realizes she's dead. She recoils, then turns and sees another cocoon, one with Marshall's dog-tags hanging out of it. Looking out of an opening in the structure

she's in, and seeing just how huge the underground hive is, she grabs a discarded pack and tries to escape. But the horror of what's happened, as well as her surroundings, get to her, as does a pain in her side from where she was grabbed, and this prompts her to hunker down for a bit. She looks through the pack, trying to find something useful, and after gathering what she can, is then motivated to head down a tunnel when she feels a draft. Walking through the dark, she lights one of several

flares and continues on. Little does she know that the red glow is visible by the Nerscylla outside of the tunnel. She constantly looks behind her, then walks on ahead, finding a cocoon teaming with eggs. Startled when she feels something touch her shoulder, she turns around to see that it's Lincoln, alive but clearly in pain. He says it hurts in his chest and that he can't feel his arm. Artemis tells him to work through the pain and she helps him as they move on, unaware that they're being followed. They don't get far before Lincoln falls to his knees

from the pain, and Artemis' flare goes out. Seeing another draft up ahead, they try to follow it, but Lincoln is in too much pain. Artemis lights up another flare, only for a Nerscylla in front of them to recoil from it. She tries to drive it back, when Lincoln tears open the side of his shirt to reveal nasty boils in his torso. They erupt into baby Nerscylla, which quickly swarm him. He yells for Artemis to go, when the adult Nerscylla grabs him and finishes him off. Artemis grabs a spray bottle from the pack and, when the Nerscylla charges, she

uses it in conjunction with the flare to create a makeshift flamethrower. She manages to set it and another one ablaze, then turns and runs for daylight up ahead, crawling up a slope towards it. One of the burning Nerscylla chases after her, and it manages to snag her foot and drag her back down when she reaches the surface. She kicks at it, then pulls out some shells she found in the pack and throws them at it. They fall right where the flames are burning on its shell, and promptly fire off. It lets go of her and she manages to climb up and stumble out into the open air.

She then becomes hysterical and frantically strips down to her tank-top, before attempting to cope with what's just happened. Then, she turns and sees a huge mass of Nerscylla at the mouth of a cave behind her. She attempts to run, but her right leg was badly injured when the one grabbed her. Fortunately for her, one of them recoils when it steps out into the bright sunlight and they all retreat back into the darkness. Artemis, again, tries to compose herself, rocking back in forth. She notices

the small tin housing her wedding ring and it gives her the determination to make it back home. She gets to work cauterizing her wound, removing her boot and sock, cutting open one of her shells, sprinkling the gunpowder onto the wound, and knocking two rocks together in order to spark it. Though painful, it does help, as she's next scene making her way through and across the rocks. She reaches the highest point, only to find that this rocky area is little more than an island in the

expansive desert. In one spot, she finds a sign of other people in the form of some rocks stacked atop each other, then again sees the raging storm and the tower in the distance. She takes one of the rocks and throws it into the sand. Almost immediately, the Diabolos explodes to the surface and she takes cover. When it doesn't see her, it goes back under the sand. She makes her way down to the bottom of a small canyon and walks through it, all the while sensing that she's being watched. It

turns out she is, as Hunter is keeping tabs on her. At the end of the canyon, she finds a graveyard of sand-ships and walks onto one's deck, hoping to find some water, but to no avail. She then goes below, only to realize she's not alone and take out her knife. Looking around, she doesn't see anyone at first, but then, Hunter comes up behind her and puts his own knife to her throat. He yells something and, though she doesn't understand it, she gets the tone and drops her knife. He then kicks it away, but she promptly grabs his arm and elbows

him in the gut. She puts him in an arm-lock behind his back and forces him to the floor, but he elbows her in the face. He gets to the ground and knocks her back, and the two of them trade hand-to-hand blows. She proves to be quite a match for him, but he manages to hit her in the back and fling her into the wall. She matches his kicks, dodges his knife swings, and even manages to grab his arm and force his knife's blade into his own shoulder, before knocking him back. He responds with a whirling kick that floors her, while he removes the knife. They dodge each other's kicks, when he manages to knock her out with one right to the face.

He ties her hands together, tosses her out of the ship, and leads her back through the canyon and onto the rocks. The sun goes down and he leads her to the entrance to his lair, as the Nerscylla emerge from beneath the ground and scour the surface for prey. Inside his lair, Artemis hears and then sees glimpses of the creatures scuttling up above. She's about to make a snide comment when he eats a bit of algae he finds on the cave's wall, but he shushes her. She realizes that the Nerscylla heard her and

are trying to dig through the rock to get at them. The night passes, with Hunter mending his wounds and praying to some small figures, while Artemis uses a jagged rock to slowly cut her hands free. The next morning, awakening to find her seemingly asleep, Hunter goes outside and uses his spyglass to look at the distant tower. He also scans the desert and sees that the Diabolos is still swimming beneath the sand. He returns to the lair, only to find Artemis gone, having cut her bonds.

He turns around and she quickly knocks him out, then ties his hands behind his back. Things quickly escalate from spiteful belligerence on both of their parts to serious business when Artemis knocks the small figures he prayed to near the fire. Enraged, he manages to right himself, despite his hands being tied, and the two of them fight again. This time, Artemis has more of an upper-hand, managing to pin Hunter down by the neck, but she gets kicked back and flies through a weak support beam. Hunter runs for a nearby weapon, but

Artemis jumps and tackles him to the floor, then clocks him in the face and rams his head repeatedly into a beam. He manages to actually sprint up the side of the wall and flip behind her, then flips her to the floor, only for her to grab and kick him into some shelves. He runs at and tackles her down by the entrance, and when they get to their feet, she runs at him and they tumble out of the entrance. They continue fighting and chasing each other through the corridor leading outside, before finding themselves tumbling down below. Hunter crashes

through one of the vents leading down into the Nerscylla's lair, and the creatures quickly sense him and scuttle up at him. They're almost upon him, when Artemis grabs his hands and pulls him back up, with Hunter using his feet to push himself, as his hands are still tied. She then cuts him free, gives him the knife, and also gives him a Hershey's bar as a peace offering, while he, in turn, gives her some much needed water.

They both agree that they need to make their way to the source of the lightning in the distance, but they must contend with the Diabolos. Artemis suggests going out to her overturned Humvee in order to get some weapons, but Hunter suggests they first use the Nerscylla's venom to incapacitate the Diabolos. Artemis agrees, but then finds herself being used as bait, standing in the midst of the vents leading down into their hive, as the sun sets. As she sings to herself, she hears one behind her,

and takes off when it explodes out of the vent and chases after her. She runs as fast as she can, then tumbles beneath a line extended between two rocks, while the Nerscylla runs across it and gets one of its hind legs caught in a snare. It's still able to get at Artemis, trapping her against a rock and swiping at her with its mandibles. She then yells for Hunter, who jumps down at the Nerscylla and slices its head open with a large blade, then cuts off its stinger. Artemis grabs the stinger and she and

Hunter run back to his lair, as more Nerscylla emerge and chase after them. The next morning, after Hunter cuts open the stinger and removes the source of the venom, he and Artemis prepare to face the Diabolos. They make their way back to the graveyard of ships, where Hunter forges a spear with the venom dripping from the tip. The two of them then spend the day setting up a trap on one of the ship's deck, and Hunter teaches Artemis how to use the weapons and armor found aboard on the of

the ships. She proves a natural at the Slinger, and he also shows her how to use the Dual Blades, though neglects to mention how they create extreme heat and blast it when they're brought together. Once they're done, Hunter begins their attack by uncorking a barrel filled with sand that's hanging up from a pulley system. He and Artemis then wait for the sand to drain out completely and, when it does, it lifts up and then falls. It hits a makeshift catapult they made out of a broken mast, hurling another barrel through the air and into the desert.

It hits the sand and rolls, attracting the Diabolos' attention. It swims after it, then surfaces beneath the barrel. Artemis and Hunter run across the sand and the Diabolos promptly senses, spots, and burrows after them. They run towards the Humvee, but when the Diabolos is almost on top of them, Artemis yells for Hunter to stop. They stand perfectly still in the middle of the desert, as the Diabolos burrows below, unable to find them. After a few seconds, Hunter motions for Artemis to go for it, then stabs his blade into the sand. The

Diabolos chases after him, but in his sprinting, he drops the cloth housing the figures that represent his family. He goes back to grab them, and the Diabolos explodes out of the sand in front of him. He gets tossed up into the air and lands on the sand, then looks up as the Diabolos stomps towards him. He quickly gets to his feet, pulls out and aims his bow, armed with the venom-tipped arrow, and fires, hitting the Diabolos in the left eye. He runs, as the Diabolos breaks the arrow with its eyelid and, before Hunter can get far, whacks him with its

clubbed tail. Hunter drops his bow and crawls after it, but just as the Diabolos is about to attack, it's distracted when Artemis commandeers her Humvee's mounted turret. Hunter ducks and just barely avoids the Diabolos' tail when it turns, while Artemis fires until the gun is dry. The Diabolos, beginning to feel the effects of the venom, as it staggers and its vision becomes blurry. This really only serves to make it angrier, as it then stomps towards Artemis. She grabs the rocket launcher out of the vehicle and fires, hitting the Diabolos square

in the face. But within seconds, it emerges from the cloud of smoke and Artemis takes cover inside the Humvee, which is tossed across the sand and smashed beyond repair. She crawls out of it, as the Diabolos approaches and looms over the Humvee from the back, roaring at her. Hunter then climbs atop it, positions himself between its horns, and stabs it in the soft flesh between them. This does, indeed, cause it pain, and it flings its head, throwing him off and causing him to crash through

the tip of a jagged rock and against the DPV wreckage. The Diabolos turns its attention back to Artemis, who decides to make use of the blade still gouged into its scalp. She runs at it and fires the Slinger, hooking into the base of one of its horns. She then repels upwards, and the Diabolos unintentionally helps her by bucking its head up, allowing her to land atop it. It tries to fling her off, but she manages to grab the blade's handle and jam it in further. The Diabolos shrieks in agony,

slamming its head back and forth against the rocks to fling her off, but she manages to hold on and jams the blade in all the way. This causes fatal brain damage, and the Diabolos collapses to the ground. Artemis breathes a sigh of relief, before running to check on Hunter. She turns him over and checks for a pulse, and then, in order to get him to safety, cuts off a large chunk of the Diabolos' armored skin to make a travois.

She pulls him along for quite a distance, until they get caught up in a sandstorm. Using the equipment she retrieved from the Humvee, she sets up a safety tent around them, then uses her modern medical equipment to get him through the night. By morning, Artemis has to dig her way out of a layer of sand that covered the tent, and then finds that Hunter survived when he wakes up with a start. He doesn't appreciate having an IV bag attached to his chest and rips it out, before angrily taking back his figures and his sword and walking off. Artemis

joins him and they make their way across the desert, heading for the tower, before coming across the oasis with the herd of Apceros. They spend the night, eating the cooked body of the Cephalos Hunter had Artemis unknowingly draw out. But late in the evening, their campfire is suddenly hit with a sudden, sharp gust of wind that blows out the candles around Hunter's figures as he prays to them. They both stand in the center of the campsite, scanning the treeline and waiting for whatever it is to attack. A large line of fire erupts

across the treeline in the distance, and a large, flying creature zooms over it. Hunter says it's a Rathalos, when a burning Apceros comes running out of the brush at them, with the entire herd behind it. Artemis gets knocked down amid the stampede, when the Admiral suddenly jumps down and uses his Switch Axe to part the Apceros and save Artemis from being trampled. She joins him in diverting them away, using the Dual Blades, while Hunter is chased through the foliage by the

frightened animals. He finds himself at the edge of a steep cliff and is about to be knocked off to his death, when the Handler swings in using a Slinger and gets him out of the way, while the Apceros fall off the cliff. Her rescue doesn't go quite as planned, though, as they swing backs towards the Apceros and hang right above them, as they continue stampeding to their doom. Aiden and Lea come to their support and more effectively use Slingers to get them out of there. Meanwhile, Artemis and the Admiral manage to drive away the remaining Apceros. Once everything has calmed down, she thanks the Admiral; to her surprise, he answers, in English, "Don't thank me yet," and promptly knocks her out.

Artemis later awakens in a cell in the brig of the Admiral's sand-ship, and finds herself being leered at by the Handler, Lea, and Aiden, until Hunter tells them to leave her alone. Aggravated when he leaves her there, she looks through the wooden hatch on the floor to see another deck below. A bell begins tolling nearby and Artemis uses it as cover to break open the padlock with a bench inside the cell and slip down below. She finds herself in the galley, and after creeping through it, goes to grab a hanging meat cleaver. That's when she's surprised

when the Palico pops up, brandishing a small knife. Hunter shows up and takes her away, while the Palico gets to work as a chef. After meeting with the Admiral, and learning about the Sky Tower and the ancient civilization behind it, the next day, Artemis embarks on a mission to journey to the tower, accompanied by a good chunk of the crew.

When they reach the tower that night, the Admiral tells Artemis that the lava flowing from the tower's base is believed to be what powers the machinery within it, and that the portal between worlds is unstable. They start down the pathway towards the tower, only to find signs that the Rathalos is nearby. The Admiral motions for everyone else to scatter, then reminds Artemis that the Rathalos are only weak right before they breathe fire. Everyone senses the monster's presence, as he flies among the clouds above them, and they prepare

themselves. The Handler uses her goggles to try to find him, when there's an explosion behind her and two men are set aflame. Artemis and Hunter take cover beneath a stone structure, as the Rathalos comes down and lands atop a pair of stone pillars. He immediately spots the two of them and walks around to where they're in his sights. He opens his mouth, preparing to expel his fire, when the Admiral distracts him. He sends a line of his own fire from his Switch Axe at the Rathalos, who flies up and shoots his fire breath at him. The Admiral

takes cover behind a pillar, as the Rathalos swings around and comes in for another attack. Artemis, Hunter, and the Admiral rush him when he lands, with the Admiral managing to blast him in the face with his Switch Axe. Artemis runs in, wielding her Dual Blades, and Hunter runs and fires an arrow, but the Rathalos turns his head to where it explodes on the side rather than his mouth. Artemis slices at the tips of his wings, and manages to cut open a big chunk of one of them. Lea and Aiden then rush in 

to help, but the latter gets smacked across the walkway. The portal begins to activate, as Artemis slices at the Rathalos' beak, and both the Handler and Hunter come running in, but the former gets smacked away like Aiden. Hunter, however, manages to hit the side of the Rathalos' head with another exploding arrow, distracting him long enough for Artemis to swipe at him again. When he opens his mouth, she attempts to jam the Dual Blades inside, but gets smacked away with his wing. He prepares to blast her, and as the Admiral rushes at him, Artemis is forced to jump off the edge of the walkway. When she does, the portal activates and she hits ground back in Afghanistan.

When she regains consciousness, she initially mistakes a large shape in the sky above as the Rathalos, but then realizes it's a landing Osprey and that she's back home. While the landing spot is marked and a flare is fired up into the air, the soldiers see to Artemis, putting her on a stretcher and carrying her aboard the Osprey. As they lift off, the pilots inform a nearby Boeing E-3 Sentry of her rescue, and ground forces arrive to secure the site. Artemis is questioned about what happened to the rest of her team, when the portal

opens in front of the Osprey with a flash and the Rathalos comes flying at them. He grabs the Osprey in midair with his talons and rips the entire cockpit out, throwing it aside. The sudden drop in pressure throws the soldiers in the back up against the ceiling, and then, as the aircraft spirals down to the ground, Artemis attempts to free herself from the gurney she's strapped to. The Osprey crashes hard to the ground, and the ground forces fire on the Rathalos, but he easily incinerates an entire line of them with his fire breath. Remembering what

the Admiral told her, Artemis manages to escape the wreckage, and sees the Rathalos obliterating the armed forces. She runs back into the wreckage to find something to fight with, while tanks attempt to battle the Rathalos. He stops one tank with his foot, rips the turret loose, and tosses it, before reaching in and devouring one of the men inside the tank itself. Another pair of Ospreys come in and open fire on the Rathalos with their machine guns, which does nothing. He takes to the air, faces

them both, and blasts one, causing it to crash into the other. He sets his sights on the Sentry, landing atop it and tearing both of its wings off with his talons, sending it crashing down. It lands near Artemis when she emerges from the one Osprey's wreckage, knocking her off her feet. Then the Rathalos lands among the burning wreckage and blasts his fire up into the air, asserting his dominance. Artemis comes storming towards him, and he roars a challenge as she runs at him.

Using her Slinger, she latches onto and repels up to him. She manages to stab her blade into his right wing's membrane and slice down through it, before tumbling back down to the ground. Enraged at this, he prepares to fry her and she, in turn, lights an explosive using the burning wreckage beside her, then uses the Slinger to fire at him. It goes right into his mouth and down his throat as he's about to let his flame loose. A series of explosions erupt down his throat and within his torso, and he collapses once they've abated. Looking at him, she

says, "I got you," when he suddenly rears back up and approaches her, roaring in anger. With nothing left, Artemis is helpless, and is about to get chomped, when the Rathalos suddenly recoils from an explosion. Hunter appears, brandishing his bow, and fires exploding arrow after exploding arrow at him, forcing him back. Seeing a burning wound in the side of his neck, he fires again, hitting it and causing an explosion that leads to a chain reaction, with the Rathalos' chest combusting from within.

With that, he collapses again, this time for good, as his body burns in multiple spots. Hunter approaches Artemis and the two of them happily reunite, and give each other a welcome hand-slap. The Admiral appears, approaches Artemis, and tosses her missing Dual Blade. The storm and portal reappear, opening up to reveal the Sky Tower, as a Gore Magala flies from atop the tower and at the opening. Artemis says they need to get back and destroy the tower, but the Admiral says 

they should concentrate on surviving this oncoming battle first. They brandish their weapons and rush towards the Gore Megala when he lands near them. That's when the movie ends abruptly, save for the mid-credits scene, where the mysterious, cloaked figure watches the battle from atop the tower, as the Pelico joins in.

The music is by former Tangerine Dream member, Paul Haslinger, who scored the Underworld movies and Crank, and had also worked with Paul W.S. Anderson before on Death Race, The Three Musketeers, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Unfortunately, Monster Hunter is not an example of a mediocre movie with a pretty damn good score. There are a couple of themes that I do remember, both of them very electronic and sounding almost like something you'd hear in an old-school video game, and I also remember when Axe listened to George Jones singing White Lightning early on, but for the most part, the music is in one ear and out the other, pretty much like the movie itself.

Monster Hunter had the potential to be a fun and entertaining action-adventure flick with kaiju, but it was doomed the minute Paul W.S. Anderson got a hold of it. The movie is veritable check-list of everything that's bad about him as a director: a lot of underdeveloped characters, an uninspired lead, a story that goes by way too fast for its own, bad CGI for a lot of the creatures, annoyingly stylized camerawork and editing that feel cliched and dated, action scenes that are often hard to follow because of the kinetic editing and shaky cinematography, a pretty forgettable music score, a half-assed, sequel-bait ending, and a major miscalculation in adapting the source material. It does feature some nice location-work, well-done effects for creating the world and the visuals of the portal, cool monsters, even if many of them aren't convincing, the memorable character of Hunter, and the always awesome Ron Perlman, but on the whole, it's just a mind-numbing blur that, again, proves why Anderson should be kept away from beloved IPs such as these games.