April 10, 2011
Kicking off like a Cloverfield clone, this sci-fi road-movie-romance soon settles into a style entirely its own. Shot on a shoestring, it’s an astonishing feat of ingenuity. A thriller of which even Hitchcock would have been proud, it builds tension out of the smallest things. It doesn’t really matter, ultimately, that there aren’t any monster mash-ups.
Debut director Gareth Edwards uses his CGI animation background to telling effect – adding effects in post-production that hint at the menace that’s out there. If he builds on this early promise, he may one day be seen as a Spielberg in the making. Duel marked Spielberg as a talent to watch, winding tension out of nothing. And Edwards does the same – more quietly, but with a keen sense of catch and release.
Mexico is under quarantine when a space probe to Europa, Jupiter’s moon, crash lands bringing with it a breed of monsters of tentacular proportions. Pity then that photo-journalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) has never seen one up close. And he seems baulked of his ambition when he's ordered to lead his boss' daughter (Whitney Able) out of the infected zone and back to US border. But the mismatched couple soon find themselves thrown together in a nightmare journey for survival.
Expect a thrilling monster movie – and fair enough, the title suggests one – and you’ll be disappointed. This is all about the gaps in between and the fears that fill them. Glimpses, breath-holding silences and moments of malevolence: a plane tugged beneath a lake’s dark surface, an upended vehicle ripped apart, viewed through a rear-view mirror.
Cloverfield and District 9 rewarded with money-shots of their monsters – and so does Monsters but not in the way you’d expect. Subverting expectation and relying mostly on the two central roles, it's a gamble. Get over the feeling that a monster’s about to leap out and you sink into the hypnotic sweep of the journey. And it leaves a lasting impression.
Take it as a metaphor for Mexican immigration to America if you want. But it’s possibly an accidental allusion. It’s a love story first and foremost with a hyped-up sci-fi setting. Most impressive of all – once you know – is that this was shot on-the-street, snatching scenes wherever Edwards, his sound-man and his actors thought best.
A construction site doubles as a monster-trashed area. A real life café owner was called on to play a no-nonsense checkpoint official. The film-crew’s own security guard is made to look like a soldier, staring warily into a forest.
Atmospheric, queasy and unpredictable, Monsters breaks new ground. And the climax is genuinely moving and unexpected. Whitney Able makes a great, believable heroine; but the character of Kaulder is too unappealing for the developing romance really to ring true. Surprising, as the leads were a real couple at the time.
Unsettling and affecting, Monsters is a slow-burn movie that reaches into your imagination. Sci-fi and monster-movie lovers will find something new. Remarkably, so will people who don’t like either.
Debut director Gareth Edwards uses his CGI animation background to telling effect – adding effects in post-production that hint at the menace that’s out there. If he builds on this early promise, he may one day be seen as a Spielberg in the making. Duel marked Spielberg as a talent to watch, winding tension out of nothing. And Edwards does the same – more quietly, but with a keen sense of catch and release.
Mexico is under quarantine when a space probe to Europa, Jupiter’s moon, crash lands bringing with it a breed of monsters of tentacular proportions. Pity then that photo-journalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) has never seen one up close. And he seems baulked of his ambition when he's ordered to lead his boss' daughter (Whitney Able) out of the infected zone and back to US border. But the mismatched couple soon find themselves thrown together in a nightmare journey for survival.
Expect a thrilling monster movie – and fair enough, the title suggests one – and you’ll be disappointed. This is all about the gaps in between and the fears that fill them. Glimpses, breath-holding silences and moments of malevolence: a plane tugged beneath a lake’s dark surface, an upended vehicle ripped apart, viewed through a rear-view mirror.
Cloverfield and District 9 rewarded with money-shots of their monsters – and so does Monsters but not in the way you’d expect. Subverting expectation and relying mostly on the two central roles, it's a gamble. Get over the feeling that a monster’s about to leap out and you sink into the hypnotic sweep of the journey. And it leaves a lasting impression.
Take it as a metaphor for Mexican immigration to America if you want. But it’s possibly an accidental allusion. It’s a love story first and foremost with a hyped-up sci-fi setting. Most impressive of all – once you know – is that this was shot on-the-street, snatching scenes wherever Edwards, his sound-man and his actors thought best.
A construction site doubles as a monster-trashed area. A real life café owner was called on to play a no-nonsense checkpoint official. The film-crew’s own security guard is made to look like a soldier, staring warily into a forest.
Atmospheric, queasy and unpredictable, Monsters breaks new ground. And the climax is genuinely moving and unexpected. Whitney Able makes a great, believable heroine; but the character of Kaulder is too unappealing for the developing romance really to ring true. Surprising, as the leads were a real couple at the time.
Unsettling and affecting, Monsters is a slow-burn movie that reaches into your imagination. Sci-fi and monster-movie lovers will find something new. Remarkably, so will people who don’t like either.