There are very few movies which deserves a standing ovation. ‘Monsters’ is simply one of them.
Take a moment and think about all the best monster movies you have seen. Names like Godzilla, King Kong, Jurassic Park and most recent one Cloverfield will pop up in your mind. Now if you want see same kind of destruction, you are in for wrong movie. Monsters, a sci-fi horror movie, is unlike any other monster movie ever seen.
Story of the film is conveyed through 4-5 lines at it's very start. A NASA probe sent to discover extra-terrestrial life in universe crashes over Central-American soil six years ago. Then new life form began to appear and apparently battle between humans and 100 feet squid like creatures begins. Andrew Kaulder (played by Scoot McNairy), a media photographer, is sent to bring back his boss’s daughter Samantha (played by Whitney Able)from Mexico to US. They are bound to travel on land through infected zone and the fun begins.
Frankly plot sounds little clichéd. So what’s unique in this? It’s the screenplay and spectacular direction that strengthens the movie. Written and Directed by Gareth Edward, Monsters is a new dimension given to the sci-fi genre after Neil Blomkamp District 9. Rather than concentrating on huge explosions and big creatures surviving those, Gareth shows the aftermath of such situations and how one learns to adopt himself even though he’s not an alien.
Monsters basically has three plus points. First being its background score. Music is a key to any sci-fi horror and it is at its best here. Composed by Jon Hopkins, his conditional music involves you in the film more enormously. One particular scene where both the leads are encountered by a roadside madman in devastated American town, beyond doubt works only on its background score.
Second notable point is its cinematography. Cinematography works best with high budget but Monsters here sets an example. With the use of only prosumer level equipments, cinematographer Colin Goudie catches every still from heaps of debris to beautiful Mexican forests with superb excellence. You'll be shocked and amazed at the same time with his camera work.
But the best thing about Monsters is its direction and choice of locations and sets which producers are claiming to be real. On one side you have beautiful trees, rivers and on the other hand you have destroyed buildings, burned helicopters and jet planes. But all of this in a mere cost of $15000. How can someone make something so utterly unique with budget of only 15000$? We saw Paranormal Activity made in such a low budget but that involved just two actors, a room and some invisible “supposed-to-scare-you” ghost. In Monsters we see giant creatures, bombarding airplanes, huge devastated building and ships. That’s almost impossible to make with such a low budget. Still it excels at every level of entertainment and keeps that “WOW! Its Awesome” expression on your face for most of its running time and for that it does not have to take you on some Pandorian journey or play with your subconscious mind.
The only negative point of the movie is its little slow first half. Could have worked better if first 30 minutes were tightly edited.
Monsters is a contradiction to its name, to its genre. Best scale of assessment for Monsters is, Its way better than Cloverfield but fall little short when compared to District 9.
My rating- Deserving 4 out of 5.
Do not miss this one! A Must Watch!
