I went to this movie, sort of expecting another one of those typical "post-apocalyptic teenage movies", and sure, there is some of that here, mainly with the "Love" side of the title, but even with that, the movie surprised me a lot.
The concept might be the best thing, even tho the "reason" for the animals to become giants is a bit... lazy, that aside, I found the concept fascinating, and I honestly, hadn't seen anything like it anywhere else. It's pretty scary, and from the jump, in an oddly fun way, we are set up in a pretty frightening but intriguing world, that afterwards, becomes a lot sadder when you realize what most of those characters had gone through. So, yeah, I found the world, and the story fascinating, and I thought they actually did a pretty good job on setting up stuff, and that paying off afterwards. Of course, there are a lot of mysteries still hanging in the air, like, what's up with the previous owner of Boy? Is she dead? Is there really a huge colony on the mountains? What's up in the rest of the world? I think you got the point, but still, the script is well written and I think it explores a bunch of the world and it's a nice and round tour to this world.
After seen the movie I keep remembering and sort of comparing it to "Chaos Walking", I've seen it recently, and I also thought it had a great concept, but instead, they don't exactly explore the world around it that much, and at the end you feel like you could have gotten more, and maybe even should have, but here they have a great mix of having a focal point and exploring "the" journey (to a certain extend), but alongside it you are able to learn a lot about the world, and you feel as if you are really having a big picture view everywhere you go with Joel, the same probably can't be said for Chaos Walking, even tho I liked the movie overall, this one is much better imo and it reaches way more of its potential than the other.
Dylan O'Brien is pretty good, he's really charismatic, and I liked him since Maze Runner, so it's awesome to see him again in another good lead of an apocalyptic story. You feel for him, you feel his evolution through the story, and his development is, kind of awesome and super well-crafted imo. The journey of realizing that he had the right people around him all the time, but also finding the courage he needed through this journey to save and probably give a better life to the ones he loves is pretty cool. His relationship with Boy is great as well.
My biggest issue with the movie tho, might be the romantical part, like, from the jump I knew this thing wouldn't end well, and like, sure, I get it, and it was obvious that she would have had found someone during this 7 year, buuut, why the hell the kiss at the end tho? That was sort of a detriment to the whole point made earlier, and I get it, post-apocalyptic world, people are horny af probably, but idk, it felt sort of pointless to make a huge thing out of "oh Joel, I found someone else and he died" just to kiss him 15 minutes afterwards. That's probably the only part I felt could have been handled way better.
Besides that, I loved his relationship with Clyde and Minnow, it's super cute, I liked that he discovers that, some of the animals are just... not a threat at all and there is probably a possibility of co-existing with them, and overall I just liked the little things they set up through the film, and brought back afterwards, like the poisoned fruit, the eyes stuff. Oh, well, I just hopped they trusted the audience a bit more and stopped, cutting back to a voice over or an actual flashback of something we... just heard or saw, we know guys, we are actually smart enough. Still the set ups are pretty good, even with that.
Also, give me a sequel with more Michael Rooker in it, please. And also the girl, Arian Greenblatt is actually pretty awesome in this, I thought she was really good, did a great job for a young actor, and had great chemistry with Michael Rooker, you really bought that they were probably on that journey for a while already.
So, to sum up, Love and Monsters is a really good movie, with an awesome, exciting and new concept, that keeps you engaged from the jump, with a good and charismatic lead you care for and roots for the entire time, with a lot of complex characters along the way, and a light of hope at the end of the tunnel, and well, a good learning experience about appreciating what you haver around you (oddly enough). The romance doesn't land as well as they probably hoped for, but still, I get why is there. All in all, it's a really good movie, worth checking out.
The concept might be the best thing, even tho the "reason" for the animals to become giants is a bit... lazy, that aside, I found the concept fascinating, and I honestly, hadn't seen anything like it anywhere else. It's pretty scary, and from the jump, in an oddly fun way, we are set up in a pretty frightening but intriguing world, that afterwards, becomes a lot sadder when you realize what most of those characters had gone through. So, yeah, I found the world, and the story fascinating, and I thought they actually did a pretty good job on setting up stuff, and that paying off afterwards. Of course, there are a lot of mysteries still hanging in the air, like, what's up with the previous owner of Boy? Is she dead? Is there really a huge colony on the mountains? What's up in the rest of the world? I think you got the point, but still, the script is well written and I think it explores a bunch of the world and it's a nice and round tour to this world.
After seen the movie I keep remembering and sort of comparing it to "Chaos Walking", I've seen it recently, and I also thought it had a great concept, but instead, they don't exactly explore the world around it that much, and at the end you feel like you could have gotten more, and maybe even should have, but here they have a great mix of having a focal point and exploring "the" journey (to a certain extend), but alongside it you are able to learn a lot about the world, and you feel as if you are really having a big picture view everywhere you go with Joel, the same probably can't be said for Chaos Walking, even tho I liked the movie overall, this one is much better imo and it reaches way more of its potential than the other.
Dylan O'Brien is pretty good, he's really charismatic, and I liked him since Maze Runner, so it's awesome to see him again in another good lead of an apocalyptic story. You feel for him, you feel his evolution through the story, and his development is, kind of awesome and super well-crafted imo. The journey of realizing that he had the right people around him all the time, but also finding the courage he needed through this journey to save and probably give a better life to the ones he loves is pretty cool. His relationship with Boy is great as well.
My biggest issue with the movie tho, might be the romantical part, like, from the jump I knew this thing wouldn't end well, and like, sure, I get it, and it was obvious that she would have had found someone during this 7 year, buuut, why the hell the kiss at the end tho? That was sort of a detriment to the whole point made earlier, and I get it, post-apocalyptic world, people are horny af probably, but idk, it felt sort of pointless to make a huge thing out of "oh Joel, I found someone else and he died" just to kiss him 15 minutes afterwards. That's probably the only part I felt could have been handled way better.
Besides that, I loved his relationship with Clyde and Minnow, it's super cute, I liked that he discovers that, some of the animals are just... not a threat at all and there is probably a possibility of co-existing with them, and overall I just liked the little things they set up through the film, and brought back afterwards, like the poisoned fruit, the eyes stuff. Oh, well, I just hopped they trusted the audience a bit more and stopped, cutting back to a voice over or an actual flashback of something we... just heard or saw, we know guys, we are actually smart enough. Still the set ups are pretty good, even with that.
Also, give me a sequel with more Michael Rooker in it, please. And also the girl, Arian Greenblatt is actually pretty awesome in this, I thought she was really good, did a great job for a young actor, and had great chemistry with Michael Rooker, you really bought that they were probably on that journey for a while already.
So, to sum up, Love and Monsters is a really good movie, with an awesome, exciting and new concept, that keeps you engaged from the jump, with a good and charismatic lead you care for and roots for the entire time, with a lot of complex characters along the way, and a light of hope at the end of the tunnel, and well, a good learning experience about appreciating what you haver around you (oddly enough). The romance doesn't land as well as they probably hoped for, but still, I get why is there. All in all, it's a really good movie, worth checking out.