Good evening Cine people I hope you've all been well and smashing down the popcorn and goodies infront of an awesome film. There have been some great reviews coming through and some great sessions.
With so many great movies to choose from it's hard to pick what to watch next and as newer movies emerge everyone is battling for an industry is emerging that is worth billions.
The Asian market is emerging as a power house that many haven't been able to tap into yet. Marvel has already begun casting Asian superheros, more and more Asian characters are emerging and tonight I'd like to showcase a recent film I watched, Monster Hunter.
I'm starting to feel old, I haven't played video games for a very long time and I didn't realise that Monster Hunter was based on a game. But having Milla Jovovich cast in the lead role makes sense. She is world famous for her role in Resident Evil films.
A great series, nothing to spectacular but I do enjoy it when a new one pops up. She plays the role well. Milla's recent film is probably a little better than Resident Evil quality but it had the same feel to it but with a few added actors. The also added change is that the film has a number of Asian heritage actors who join the main cast.
This is an attempt to make the film more lucrative to Asian markets. But film makers still manage to bungle it up and this film made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
But first the film, we first meet Milla's character Natalie Artemis with her squad heading along a desert where an interdimensional rift opens and bridges Earth realm with another realm.
Falling through to the other side the team finds the other team they were sent out to rescue. As darkness falls they're attacked by, yup you guessed it Monsters!
Stranded on an island is another traveller a native of the current realm. After Natalie's team is wiped out she manages to survive, escape and after abit if banter with her new friend end up coming up with a way to get off the island and passed Diablo. A pretty cool Monster, I felt kinda sad when it was offed.
It's not too long before Nat and her new friend are reunited with her friends old crew. For some reason she gets knocked out and they chain her up. She breaks free and the guy that locked her up apologised. It was one part of the story line that made absolutely no sense.
If you hadn't played the games, this is kinda the moment you learn that the weapons they have also have magic powers. Pretty neat.
A Dragon Appears oh yeah big bad fire breathing Dragon. We also learn that there are some form of older beings that created the monsters to protect the realm or something in the tower. Still not entirely sure why this crew is chasing down and killing monsters.
They kill a Dragon for another to appear as Nat made it back to earth, rescue begins and then her helicopter gets taken out as the Dragon crosses into the Earth realm.
Her new friends appear and they take it out.
It ends with an older being looking down on them and her going back to kill monsters with her new friends.
For a film, I really enjoyed it. I have no idea how good the game is as I've never played it. As a film trying to enter the Asian market they failed miserably.
The movie was shut down with in hours as Asian movie goers edited the film before it even started over a racist Chinese joke made early on. Probably not a good idea to make a racist Chinese joke if you're trying to get the Asian market to buy your product.
In the English version one character says to the another "look at these knees" to which an Asian character responds "what are they Chi - nees" however, the sub titles had something very different in an attempt to hide the joke. It translated to “Men have gold under their knees, and only kneel to the heavens and their mother,”
Chinese social media was alight with complaints and calls for boycotts of the film. Movie goers were enraged. The very next day the film was pulled from all Chinese cinema's.
I have to admit, it's quite odd that such a joke made it to the film especially seeing the target market was China. I honestly don't know how people thought it was a funny idea or even a funny joke, it was pretty lame and a costly one.
What are your thoughts on the Monster Hunter movie, have you seen it? Did you like it? Or was it a complete and utter miss of a movie?
Let me know in the comments section below!
I know of the monster hunter games but never played them, didn't seem like the type of games I'd enjoy.
However, the movie is a nice, popcorn munching action film, and my fondness for Mila Jovovich only persuaded me to see this. But I probably won't see it again.
I'd have to agree I am in the same boat, however I would totally watch the next movie they release and my 4 year old loved watching Mila kick ass!