Review of Monsters (2010) by Spencer S — 11 May 2014

Monsters is a slow paced indie flick that has nothing to do with monsters in the sense that visually there are not any creepy crawlies. Onscreen we have two travelers trying to get to their respective homes while running from large, floating aliens that have inhabited a zone between the United States and the Mexican border.

Because this film was single handedly helmed by Gareth Edwards and didn't have the budget to be an epic monster movie or invasion film, it had a lot of chances to be an understated character study of two people in a hard to understand situation and how normal aliens can be, once integrated into society.

Up until they decide to go into the infected zone I was digging the storyline and the growing relationship between the two leads. We were getting into their flawed personas and the way aliens were now something regular on the news but not in their lives.

They weren't romantic but there was jealousy, there was commentary on the relationship between Americans and Mexicans and the political hubris around immigration, and the destruction of the alien species who hadn't reached out to the human race.

After that, when they're running around the jungle, and the aliens become more of a threat, the character development dribbles down to key problems including the heiress' impending marriage and her employee's enstrangement to his son.

These aren't directly put to good use and then romance is thrust on the two leads. Everything afterward feels contrived and forced. I still really liked the ending and the use of the title as an introspective view of social commentary, but the main focus of this film was supposed to revolve around the two leads and to be honest they're not that interesting.

The acting is bland, the characters are one dimensional, and it didn't hold enough tension or awareness to be anything other than a tortured couple amidst a strange situation. I didn't see anything new or daring about this, and using the adjective understated instead of dull is not a saving grace.