Monsters (2010)

User Review

• 

  TheMovieDiorama

  6 / 10

  Monsters, contrary to its title, is an intimate story of love and survival. This may just be the first review where I honestly have no idea what to rate the film. A science fiction horror film this is not, the marketing for this extremely low budget directorial debut was incredibly incorrect. So I can empathise with the below average audience scores. But this isn't a bad film, in fact it's pretty special. Just...not the film any of us would've expected. A photojournalist is tasked with escorting his employer's daughter back to US soil where they must venture through the extraterrestrial quarantine zone. A rather unique perspective on human life conforming to the presence of alien life. Humanity are no longer fleeing shouting "Run! it's Godzilla!", life simply continues on. Being shot on location, in sometimes illegal situations, Edwards managed to encapsulate Central America and seamlessly shape it into a microcosm. Much like the roaming aliens, the continent is portrayed to be troublesome yet filled with natural and anthropoid beauty. A contradictory statement where danger and allurement coexist together. The inclusion of the romance between the two central characters only elevates this theme on a more obvious level. Edwards' direction and cinematography was taut and gorgeous, considering the tiny budget he did an outstanding job. Alas, his style can't quite overcome the tedious screenplay that he also wrote. Andrew and Sam, two understated performances from McNairy and Able, establish a romance that just didn't feel right. Substantially forced upon them so that the theme of love can be illustrated to us. I wasn't invested, I wasn't engaged and I certainly wasn't enthralled. Keeping the B-movie aliens sidelined and mostly out of view was sensible, but not enough tension existed in the story. Then the conclusion occurs and, after clicking my fingers, it ends. Just like that. It's a very confused debut from Edwards, not monstrous, just confused. However, he did an outstanding job given the minuscule budget which cemented him as a director to watch out for in the future.

  Like?

  2 member like this review.