Monsters

Plot

Six years ago, NASA accidentally caused an alien outbreak on the boarder of USA and Mexico. A magazine owner, orders one of his photographers Andrew to bring his daughter Sam back from South America back to the US. Along the way they bond over life – as well as trying to stay safe from the aliens around them.

Direction

Gareth Edwards directorial debut is solid considering the very tight budget of $500k. With some solid action moments, scenes of aftermath of violence and a moment where we see the aliens up close in the last act you would be hard pressed to think that the budget wasn’t 100x what it was. It’s no wonder Edwards was a top choice to go on to direct 2014’s Godzilla.

Cast/Characters

The two leads are quite sound, with Scoot McNairy playing Andrew and Whitney Able playing Sam. The fact the pair were dating at the time blends into their on-screen chemistry and their ‘will they/wont they’ arc.

I liked them both, and they were sound – however I think McNairy works better when he is a secondary cast member rather than primary, and I don’t recall watching Able in a performance before, but she was a strong lead actress.

Screenplay/Setting/Themes

Edwards favours dialogue and character, rather than action and violence in this film. The characters have the obvious ‘will they/wont they’ which starts with almost distain for one another grows quite organically throughout the film.

I did enjoy that not all of their backstory is revealed straight away – especially in the case of Andrew who is the ‘biological’ dad to a son – who he had a two-month relationship with the mother, now married and the ‘father’ to his son.

Sam’s recent engagement is slowly revealed to be not an overly happy one, and when they have to pawn her ring to get home, she mentions how ‘light’ her hand is now. This is obviously a metaphor for how her relationship had deteriorated and not ‘not wearing her ring’.

The themes of friendship, relationships and feeling alone despite not being alone is quite strong, and written well.

Watching in 2024 – and seeing ‘The Wall’ between America and Mexica is a tad ironic too.

Overall

I had been meaning to watch this for quite a long time, and found it to be quite a charming film – despite the fact it is a science fiction film. The way that humans ‘live with’ the aliens is done quite well, and ‘other’ films that tried to do this should have taken note.

The way the polar opposite’s pair come together is done quite well. I wished that the ‘fight’ between the pair about earning a living occurred a little later.

A solid film.

3.5/5