Monsters (2010)

Monsters is one of those films that I had heard good things about but never quite got the chance to watch. As this is the first film in the Film Club I chose this film to kick start it. This film sees two characters Andrew (Scott McNairy) and Samantha (Whitney Able) travel from one side of an infected zone to the other. The infected zone was set up after a probe crashed in Central America and a new life form began appearing.

Gareth Edwards was the person who wrote and directed this film for next to no money which is an achievement considering what he has achieved. What is quite clever is that the alien invasion that took place is treated like old news.

When you see news about Iraq or Afghanistan its treated rather blasé which is how the aliens are viewed in this film. It’s not seen as the big breaking news that we would take it if we to happen tomorrow. It seems quite odd at first to see they behaving so oddly but after a while you just learn to embrace it and that helps move the story along.

There are few moments when we actually see any monsters which is where the film title is slightly misleading. In fact its not an alien movie but a character film which sees two reluctant people forced to stick together through a horrible area with incredible risks.

The final 10 minutes or so are some of the best because just when we think the characters were being rescued at petrol station we are treated to the most visual aliens of the movie. They seem to be doing something together and its filmed so beautifully and that sums up the film.

Despite having a small budget (rumoured to be $500,000) it shows to everyone that you don’t have to spend 100’s of millions of dollars to produce something this enjoyable.

The two lead actors have the sort of relationship which works quite well and considering I had never heard of either actor they put in a solid performance. Whitney Able is really good as Samantha Wynden though I didn’t like her to begin with. Scoot McNairy was also good as Andrew Kaulder who like Samantha wasn’t a particularly likeable person to begin with but due to the setting of the story it allows the characters to mellow somewhat and become likeable. I had never seen these two before and I think that is another reason that I like this film is because if it were Tom Cruise or James McAvoy in the film then it wouldn’t have worked.

I was really impressed with this movie. It’s a snappy 94 minutes and it makes a refreshing change to the science-fiction movies that like to have massive explosions and over the top action sequences. The fact that the story has a small budget is used as an advantage and I for one think its one of the best alien films of recent years.

Rating: 8/10