Before Watching
I knew this movie was going to be your typical Paul W.S. Anderson + Mila + Screen Gems video game movie which is good for me 'cos I had fun with their Resident Evil movies. When they showed first images from initial shooting there was some worry that it was gonna be a (Hollywood) military vs monsters (which I dislike) with the "Monster Hunter" name just tacked on...but as shooting went on we find that was just a small earlier part of the movie and not the overall theme. Then we saw some of the monsters, other stars (Tony Jaa & Ron Perlman...both awesome) and even the CAPCOM game creators were involved/impressed by what was being done. There was a stink in China over some "racist" line in the movie which I don't quite understand (more CCP: cancel culture party crap) but that wasn't stoppin' most from seeing it. Then there was worry again over the CCP flu delaying/cancelling everything, but I'm glad the producers went ahead and released it anyways...good for them!
While Watching
Before the movie starts you also see that TOHO & Tencent are involved...hrmmm? You don't go to these video game movies for too much story or complicated sub-plots and this didn't do much of that which is good! You went to see the monsters and action hoping it does justice to this great game franchise. You got monsters and action...but there was some slowdown with a big portion of the setting taking place in a huge sandy desert sea...but that allowed the two main leads (played by Mila & Jaa) to play off each other counter-cooperatively (something that happens in video games) fighting one minute then working together the next...which worked really good! More of this world is explored to show other Monster Hunter-esque settings with good pacing once they finally get past the desert. There were other monsters but the big focus were game mainstays Diablos & Rathalos which were well translated from game to movie form. The military (vehicles, weapons, techniques) elements in the movie was a worry 'cos I feel sometimes movies that mix an Earth army against another world's enemy are unrealistically balanced...this was more balanced 'cos it was obvious that "our" armies would be handled by the Monster Hunter world! The music was good, don't get me wrong, but I think they shoulda went with more music from the game itself rather than just putting futuristic techno-ish video-gamey sounds into many themes. Good special effects (with some light Resident Evil movie-ish grit & gore) and monster modelling that looked like the game versions. Also from the games' universe were the multi-cultural hunters (now simply explained that there's a dimensional portal between our universe and Monster Hunter universe which is why there's so many different peoples/languages (a mix of east/west in the games) that fell into that world from our world) with their monster scaly armors, big monster bone weapons and crazy hair. There was also some other game references like the switch-axe spin move, baiting & poisoning tactics, a funny Felyne, spit-roasting monster meat, sand sea sailing ships and they put in the newer clutch-claw zip-line item. Not everything from the game was in there of course: a big part of the game is mining ore, fishing, harvesting, trapping, getting items (scales, skins, furs, bones, claws, meat, etc...hunter is in the name of the game, right?) from defeated monsters, crafting tools & sharpening weapons, but maybe that would've been too slow/boring to show the grind from the game...I think they coulda been funny with it for the games' fans, though. Another worry while watching was something that was big in the Resident Evil movies: Mila being practically invincible, but that was there only a lil' bit and by the end of the movie you could see that there were three really strong hunters so she was not out of balance with the rest of the cast.
After Watching
They milked many sequels from the first Resident Evil movie and I know that's what they wanna do with this. It's a new and in some ways bigger universe to explore in movie form. Everything is questionable 'cos of the CCP flu going forward since movies aren't making the Box Office money they used to, but I'm still sure they want to and have plans for more Monster Hunter movies. I hope Tony Jaa & Ron Perlman stay for more if there is more. They obviously left it wide open for more with some lil' unanswered questions like the "hooded man" near the end, but hopefully they don't take it to Resident Evil milking extremes. There's a lot more monsters & elements from the game (some suggested above) that could be put in future movies! Maybe Palamute riding like in the new Switch Monster Hunter Rise game coming? Speaking of Nintendo, this gave the same sort of vibes that were had when the Resident Evil movies came to theaters and the games came to GAMECUBE!
Everyone I know who saw it really liked it and had fun with it so that's good. I feel I have more invested in it since I like the games and I like to follow video game to movie crossovers in general and I really liked it. Unless you hated the Resident Evil movies I would definitely recommend watching it! You don't have to know/play the games to get into it, either.
