Fresh Reviews: "Monsters"

Rated R for language and violence (To be honest,I was really surprised to find it was rated R.It seems no more than a PG-13 at most to me.)

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When you encounter a title like "Monsters", you know what to expect, right? Vampires, werewolves, stuff like that? Or maybe alien monsters from outer space, with plenty of blood and guts and gore? Well, not always. In fact, in "Monsters", from director Gareth Edwards, you don't even get plenty of the monsters themselves... they're onscreen for maybe ten minutes of the entire 90-or-so minute movie. But you do get a film that, with all its flaws, still gives you plenty of food for thought, and is a fine illustration of how you don't need a multi-million dollar budget to tell a story about creatures from another world coming to our planet and changing everything.

In "Monsters", we learn that a classic science-fiction movie scenario (a space mission bringing back "something") has resulted in a group of alien monsters vaguely resembling gigantic squid landing in Mexico and breeding, to the extent that certain areas of the country have been virtually abandoned by the government as "infected" zones. An American reporter has traveled into one of these zones on orders of his boss to bring back the boss's daughter, who had been staying there when a "monster" attack took place (luckily, she survived). But when flying and more traditional returns to the U.S. prove impossible, the trek back to the border might prove impossible... and even if they do get to the border, how to get past the large and lengthy wall that's been built along the border (to keep the aliens out, of course)?

Yes, there is a political subtext here... the issue of immigration is never mentioned, and the U.S. and Mexican governments are completely cooperating in battling the monsters. But when you have a wall between the U.S. and Mexico to keep out the aliens... well, you know. I have no problem with the movie's politics as they happen to pretty much align with mine, but I really don't think that even more conservative movie fans should be bothered by them. The "message" is extremely subtle, and the movie isn't so much a "message" film as it is along the lines of those cheap indie movies Roger Corman used to produced back in the 60s and 70s, where he always insisted on having a movie that was first and foremost an entertaining monster of science-fiction flick, but with a little bit of social message subtext. It does add to the entertainment value of the film, I think, but it's easy to enjoy the movie strictly as a fun little monster movie.

And speaking of which... I understand that the film's extremely low budget is probably the major reason you hardly ever see the monsters, but it does also make them more impressive (and scary) when they do appear. For such a low budget, the creatures really are terrifying creations... vaguely squid-like but just alien enough that they're not quite like any squid ever seen on earth. But the whole movie really is ABOUT them... every scene is dominated by their presence, and the society and culture we see is what it is because of the existence of these creatures among us. And the film makers really manage to come up with some very creative and incredibly creepy moments... wait until you see how the creatures lay their eggs and breed. You hardly ever see such an effective visual moment in such a low budget film.

The movie is mostly a "road movie" as Scott MCarie (the reporter) and Whitney Able (boss's daughter) make their way north to (they hope) safety in the U.S., where as far as they know the aliens have not yet established a foothold. The two leads are very effective, though I was a bit disappointed once again to see the inevitable blossom of romance between them (it is SUCH a cliche... just ONCE would it be asking too much to have a male and female lead in a dangerous situation in an action-type film who DON'T fall in love?). And the actual final shot of the creatures at the very end of the movie is a moment that's SO incredibly hokey and corny that I positively cringed... I understand the point they were trying to make, but the way it was done... EEWW. You'll see what I mean.

At least, I hope you'll see what I mean and give the movie a chance. In spite of a few weaknesses, the movie really is thoughtful, entertaining, well-made on a number of levels and will, I think, reward the science-fiction movie fan looking for something a little different. I went to this film expecting not much more than a carbon copy of "District 9", and while there are a few similarities, the film really does have its own unique style and tells its story in a very distinct way. It's already playing in some parts of the country and opens in Minneapolis at Landmark's Lagoon Theatre on Friday, November 12th. If you're at all interested in the genre, I suspect you'll enjoy it.