I should have known I was watching a Paul W. S. Anderson movie within a few minutes, but I didn’t realize it until the end credit roll. Then it made more sense. Paul W. S. Anderson is a writer and director who makes violent, gross, occasionally amusing movies out of video games. He’s the guy behind the Resident Evil series of films that made a star of his wife, Milla Jovovich. He’s directed more than a dozen films and I haven’t really liked any of the ones I’ve seen, despite his penchant for violent action.

Paul W. S. Anderson’s film puts a special Army team through a stormy dimensional exchange onto another planet (or Earth in another time?) covered with sand and monsters. Lt. Artemis (Milla Jovovich) is the only one of her team to last very long, saved by an Asian archer she names Hunter (Tony Jaa). Together they try to survive the onslaught of giant armored spiders and such and get back to Earth. Oh, and a big blonde pirate (Ron Perlman) has plans to destroy the gateway between worlds.

Lots of nonsense is handled very matter-of-factly, with scary design of the monsters a definite plus. Somehow the violence is toned down enough to keep a PG-13 rating, but the film is definitely gross and disgusting. It’s kind of like an otherworldly Tremors, with subtle doses of Arachnophobia and Reign of Fire to keep things hopping. Of course it is based on a video game, and of course many of the lesser characters don’t survive the experience.

There is a certain style to a Paul W. S. Anderson film, and while I don’t hate his style, I’m not enamored of it either. All of his films have endless scenes of personal combat, using knives or swords or such, and this time those combat moves are made against both people and monsters — which only serves to make them seem even more ridiculous, even when they work. Worst of all, this movie ends with a perfect setup for a sequel, meaning that there will undoubtedly be more of them to come. I won’t be looking forward to them. ☆ ☆. 22 December 2020.