REVIEW: Monsters

Monsters

Director: Gareth Edwards

Year: 2010

Plot Summary: Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.

Monsters has been causing some giant waves within the film industry. Made on only £500,000, shot by only two people and pieced together by a minuscule crew, it's a testament to the power of low budget film making during a period when everyone is keeping an eye on their wallets. Director Gareth Edwards proudly uses his talent for visual effects and expert eye for cutting corners here to create this science fiction movie that proves you can still achieve stunning visuals with just a handful of cash. All you need is a good imagination.

However, many of us will have heard all the stories of how great Edwards' vision is before. Many of us will know the brilliant ways he cut corners to save his budget and the stories he's shared about filming with a two-man crew too. But what remains to be asked is this: Is the film actually any good?

I admittedly had my doubts upon researching the story of the movie, thinking that Monsters would simply be a rip-off of the Oscar nominated sci-fi actioner from last year District 9. Like Neill Blomkamp's movie, it is set some years after an alien infestation of Earth only the location has been switched from the suburbs of Johannesburg to the border between Mexico and the USA to tell the story of a photographer who is asked to escort his bosses daughter home after an alien attack in Mexico.

However, Edwards has actually created a piece of work that is not only hugely innovative visually but also refreshing in its storytelling. Despite it's science fiction setting, Monsters is less about the extra-terrestrials who roam the border between Mexico and America and more about the relationship between the two main characters. As they travel across the infected zone - a place of considerable danger in which many lives have been lost - both characters find themselves learning lessons about themselves. Andrew begins to come to terms with a difficult break-up that resulted in him not being able to see his young son while Samantha deliberates on her engagement to a man back home.

In many ways, this kind of structure almost draws similarities between the likes of Before Sunset or In Search Of A Midnight Kiss in which the narrative simply involves two characters as they talk. Both of these films were successful for creating such strong protagonists and Monsters is no different. You will be engrossed in the relationship between Andrew and Samantha right from the beginning and you won't want to turn away until you know how it ends.

This also leads to Monsters being a lot more intimate, tender and touching than your usual science fiction outing. The aliens here, rather than being antagonists or villains, for example, are simply a vehicle that allows for the characters to find themselves and come to terms with the realities of their lives. There's very few battles between humans and aliens at all so those of you looking for shoot-outs, explosions and fight scenes would be better to look elsewhere.

My biggest surprise of the year, Monsters is a tremendous outing from Gareth Edwards who has done for the science fiction genre what a movie like Let The Right One In did for the horror genre. It's poetic, moving and beautiful film-making and one that I would highly recommend.

4/5

By Daniel Sarath with No comments