Monsters

Monsters (2010)

A probe sent out to investigate the existence of life in our solar system crashes in Mexico on it’s return to Earth. Not long afterwards a strange new creature shows up and the U.S. and Mexican military quarantine ½ of Mexico to contain it. The story here starts 6 years later when a photographer is charged with getting his bosses daughter back home safely after she is injured when one of the creatures attacks her hotel. Their best-laid plans go awry when they are robbed leaving a run across the infected zone as their only way home. The rest of the movie is them interacting with the people they meet and dodging the creatures.

I was a bit worried when I popped this one in because it starts off like it is one of those found footage flicks that have been so popular. But after the first attack Monsters reverts back to the traditional format. I had also kind of expected to have a creature feature with the monsters jumping out and smashing things up. You do get a little of this and it is done very well on a low budget. But this isn’t some action movie with the army doing battle with the alien invaders. What we get is an interesting story about our two lead characters and what they go thru to get home. This is one of those rare movies in the science fiction/horror genre that is just as interesting in it’s quiet moments as it is during the action scenes. If it isn’t obvious yet I was very impressed with the movie and the story. The thought that keeps jumping into my mind is that this is a thinking man’s giant creature movie. There is a heck of a lot more to this one then the just your standard interstellar invaders.

While doing research for this review I discovered that much of the movie was shot with the cast improvising their dialogue. The director gave outlines of what he wanted to his cast and allowed them to create the scene. Toss in the fact that many of the people in the movie aren’t actors and you have a remarkable achievement. I’ve seen far too many movies try this approach and most of them fail miserably. But here it works to perfection and has the added bonus of making everything feel natural and realistic. And yes I’m talking about a movie with aliens running about feeling real to me.

Now that said I loved the creature design. It is all CGI, but given the budget the filmmakers had they did a wonderful job pulling this off. Basically the aliens look like giant squids that can either swim around in the water or stroll around on the land. The important thing to me with a movie like this is that they look like something that could actually be a living creature, which they totally do. This allowed me to totally immerse myself in the screwy situation that there were aliens strolling around in Texas. Without the effects the heart of the story, the characters of the man and woman trying to get back home, just wouldn’t work at all. So even more so then usual convincing creatures were the key for making the movie work.

If you guys haven’t already figured it out yet I’m going to recommend Monsters. The DVD and Blu-Ray is available from Magnet. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer