Monsters Review: You’ve Seen It All Before

Maybe it’s the fact that we live in a time of recession but it seems like many movies nowadays are trying to market themselves based on how little they cost to make. Movies like Paranormal Activity are so enamored with bragging about their shoestring budgets that it becomes more interesting than the plot of the movies themselves and the new release, Monsters, is no exception.

Made by a crew of two people entirely on location for a rumored $15,000 Monsters takes us to a distant future where alien creatures have populated a large segment of Mexico and are at risk of crossing the border into neighboring USA during the current migration period. The United States government has constructed a massive security wall to keep the creatures out but the similarities to the real life political immigration debate end there as the film opts to tell a love story instead of making political statements.

Deep in the heart of Mexico we meet photographer Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) who is ordered by his boss to locate his daughter, Samantha, and make sure she gets back to America before the borders close for the hostile season. Samantha (Whitney Able) is a cute and capable girl who seems to take pleasure in some of the small things in life but naturally clashes with Andrew who is a little rough around the edges and irritated with the task he’s been given. It’s a classic love story of two opposites thrust together in a weird situation and falling for each other despite obstacles like Samantha already being engaged and Andrew drunkenly sleeping with a complete stranger who steals their passports and money.

The loss of their passports requires the two young travelers to book passage by land through the restricted zone where the aliens roam free and eagerly await people to munch on. It’s somewhat hard to describe what the aliens look like but the best description is probably that of a gigantic octopus with electricity coursing through it. They are literally the size of buildings and require Air Force jets and bombs to be killed so even though our two future lovers go on their journey with some tough hombres packing machine guns, it does them little good when things get scary. And I will say that the alien attack scenes are a bit harrowing to watch. Due to the small budget, the film expertly relies on the strength of what you can’t see is scarier than what you can see, but even when they are in full view, the special effects are remarkable and proof that we can now essentially create anything with nothing.

Writer/Director Gareth Edwards clearly used every trick at his disposal to make a very polished looking film with very little and I commend him for that. It is certainly entertaining on a basic viewing level but what keeps it from being a triumph is the severe lack of originality of it all. We’ve certainly never seen all of the pieces put together in exactly this way before but we’ve seen all of the pieces countless times and I don’t know if anyone could watch this and not tell you verbatim what will happen next each step of the way. As a result nothing really sticks with you when it is over and I fear that a week from now I will have mostly forgotten the entire movie. See it if you’re fascinated by what a filmmaker can accomplish with little means but if you’re looking for anything more you should probably just look elsewhere.

Grade: B-