Review of Monsters (2010) by Dave H — 08 Jul 2011
Gareth Edward's Monsters is a brilliant alternative monster movie. It sometimes falls clumsily short of its more political ideas, but its low-fi art house style, delivered on a low budget demonstrates excellent potential in its first time director. The lead performances waver from almost very good to B movie bad as do the special effects. But the use of non professional actors, improvised scenes and a guerrilla style movement to the excellent cinematography make this film a unique experience.
The movie benefits greatly from a simple road movie structure and old school suspense tricks, combining the structure of other genres into a sci-fi to create a very unique and original feeling film. Something that Cameron's 3D colonial mishmash Pocahontas meets Fern Gully in space, entirely failed to do. Monsters may not have the production values of Avatar, District 9, or Cloverfield, but it has something that these films ultimately lacked; subtlety. Edward's movie has a beautiful pace and a subversive menace that belies what would otherwise be an overtly heartfelt film. Instead the mixed genres of road movie romance and low-fi sci-fi beautifully compliment one another. Monsters may be flawed, but it ultimately overcomes its pitfalls and succeeds as a true contender for monster movie of the decade.
This review of Monsters (2010) was written by Dave H on 08 Jul 2011.
Monsters has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
