User Reviews

I understand this is a very low budget movie. If so, it is another example of the marvels which can be worked with a small budget by original and creative people.

Despite the sci-fi trimmings - ostensibly similar to the recent, but vastly inferior, tentacled alien invasion movie Skyline - this is essentially a two-hander road movie with a touch of growing romance thrown in. The hand-held camera adds verite but doesn't jitter so constantly as to stimulate nausea. There are some gorgeous visuals - both spectacular natural shots and also effects shots such as The Wall. And the two unknowns who we accompany on their journey - the gorgeous Whitney Able and the not so gorgeous Scoot McNairy - are both very good.

But most credit must go to Gareth Edwards, the creative force behind this film.

I first heard about this movie in a radio interview, so I was aware that it was very low budget. But lately "sci fi" movies have been all about escalating action to the point of absurdity. Classic sci fi is about people reacting to new/mysterious/dangerous situations. This movie has that, with interesting protagonists. It has echos of Sin Nobre and El Norte, and yes, the context of "alien substitution" echoes District 9. But it's not a re-make, and it's consistently entertaining, with a straight-ahead narrative. There are only a few moments where a shock reaction is telegraphed. A big studio would have made this story into an effects extravaganza. But in my opinion it's more effective showing limited interaction with the aliens.

If you can handle real sci fi -- movies without the excesses of Transformers or 2012 -- this sci fi will satisfy.

Half of Mexico has been quarantined, having been taken over by alien creatures brought back to Earth by a space probe. American newspaper photographer Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) is tasked with escorting his boss's daughter Samantha (Whitney Able) to the safety of the US via ferry, but the pair are forced to travel to the border through the 'infected' zone when their passports are stolen by a bar floozy with whom Andrew spends a tequila-fuelled one night stand (could have been worse, I suppose: he might have got his own 'infected zone south of the border' into the bargain).

Technically speaking, there ARE monsters in Monsters, but the total time that they are on screen cannot amount to more than a few scant minutes. The rest of this low-budget indie film focuses on the two Americans as they get to know and fall for each other against a backdrop of chaos, and ultimately discover that they might not be so different to the aliens that they have been so afraid of. In other words, Monsters is a very dull, extremely talkative character study/romance that will no doubt frustrate and anger those viewers lured in by its misleading title, deceptive marketing and intriguing basic premise; even those forearmed with the knowledge that this isn't a special effects laden monster smack-down might still be surprised at just how slow and uneventful the film actually is.

If there is one thing that critics can agree on it is that Monsters is a brilliant film and that it marks a turning point where special effects are possible on a low-budget, thus ending Hollywood's rule – forever. So, it was quite the nice surprise to find that this film, having only just come out in the UK, was one of those featured on a recent flight I was on. I know that a tiny screen on a plane is not the place the makers wanted me to watch it but I did so anyway, so perhaps some may wish to take my opinion in that context? I don't know.

Anyway, I tried to ignore the hype and just come to the film as fresh as I could, wary of anything that is overly praised just because I have been burnt before. What I found with Monsters though was a film that was worthy of the praise, but just not for the reasons that everyone was saying. Made on a comparatively tiny budget with a tiny crew and with special effects done on a laptop, this film is worthy of praise for how it was made and the fact that it is reasonably good despite being made rather on the fly. This is why I think that so many critics have been quick to praise it – because it does show that "big" effects movies can be done for less than the disgusting budget of films like Transformers 2 and so on. You already know where i'm going, so let me just get there – to me, the praise has been spread beyond this aspect in a way that the film doesn't totally deserve.

Watching it for myself I could see lots going on but the word that flooded my mind was "nearly". In terms of the overall sweep of the film, while some have talked about immigration for me the film is an allegory for Afghanistan. We have the "monsters" in a set area that is heavily attacked by the military – attacks which do more harm to the innocents in the area than the monsters themselves do. At this level it is quite clever but the film never makes more of this, leaving it as it is and not making comment beyond showing the news footage of the monsters as being background noise in the way war coverage (sadly) has become for many of us – the norm. Below this we have what is essentially a road-movie where the two characters fall for each other and also make their own journeys in regards the monsters. Again this is "OK" but never really comes off in the way it should. The improvised dialogue works against the film in my opinion. It should have been well-honed dialogue – writers get paid for a reason, it is because generally written material is better than that made up on the spot. So it is here and the film misses the chance to let the dialogue be the driver for the allegory and the relationship and the character development. As it is the film is "nearly" there on this aspect.

The characters did bug me a but because they were not as strong as suggested. Able and McNairy deserve credit for their efforts and their reasonably natural performances but they deserved a better script (or any script). Chatting naturally they do not help the overall film and it is a shame that again their performances are a case of "nearly" or "if only....". I can't stand in the way of praise for Edwards though as his drive and skill made this film. His effects are used sparingly but they are impressive (small screen or not). His use of them is clever because it frees the film up to do much more than just be an effects movie – it is just a shame then that his material doesn't actually delivery in the space left for it.

Overall Monsters is a reasonably good film but it is one that could and should have been better in key regards. The nature of the making should be praised to the rooftop but the film itself falls short. It is never as smart as it thinks it is, never as engaging as it should be and never has the commentary that it surely needed. Worth a look and well worth supporting but in my opinion the gushing noise from the critics is more to do with the fact it is a low budget success rather than a brilliant film generally.

While there have been plenty of valid comparisons made between this film and last year's sci-fi hit District - 9 (due solely to the fact that the two films share an admittedly similar global concept; that of aliens landing and being contained within a restricted zone as a forced but entertaining allegory for racial disharmony. There the zone was in central South Africa and here it is the northernmost section of Mexico, the borderlands.) I think the media have missed the much more obvious filmic connections. To my mind this film is in fact less like a geographical reboot of D-9 and more like an art-house Cloverfield or perhaps a blockbuster Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky's epically sparse sci-fi classic). While the concept and metaphor certainly match that of District – 9 the closest the execution sways it further towards a combination of the latter two examples.

Instead of attempting to tell the story of a fictional universe using a number of cipher characters like D-9, this film instead tells the story of its two leads by way of its alien infestation. The titular monsters certainly are an integral force in crafting and driving the films narrative but they are not its real focus, this is where the two films differ. Instead we are made to follow American investigate journalist Colbert who is tasked by his employer to find and then accompany his daughter through the infected zone and into the United States before the beginning of the creature's active season.

It's a sparse plot and one that leads to a lot less action than you would expect, but it does work as the spinal centre of the film. Instead of confronting the creatures at every turn, discovering their origin, their weakness, their queen and then eventually using their knowledge to develop a dues ex machina and save the day like the big damn heroes of every similar film, these two simply exist in the universe like we do ours; as everyday citizens living their everyday lives. That's not to say though that the film is in any way banal; in fact their journey through the zone allows for a lot of stunning shots, shocking stories and silent terror, it's just that these occur in a different tense then we are used to. We are, like the protagonist Colbert, journalists in this world; we follow in the wake of the story, catching occasional glimpses of it from afar but mainly focusing on who and what it leaves behind.

The monsters, their destruction and the alternate world that they destroy are all filtered through the protagonists before they reach us upon the screen. It is their reactions to the events that elicit responses in us and their responses that in turn become our emotions. It is essential that the two leads be well crafted in order for this method to work. Thankfully then, they are; Hitting that perfect ratio of realism, stereotype, flaw and likability. They are the kind of characters that you would happily follow within the comparatively banal confines of a drama and so here, in this realm of heightened stakes, they become doubly interesting. The real surprise of the film for me was just how enjoyable, and oftentimes moving, it was to take this trip with the leads; to the point that by the time the ending rolled around I almost echoed their calls of 'I don't want to go home'. That dreaded disillusionment, the return to drudgery after a distinctly powerful event is something I can really understand but it is something uncommon to see in cinemas. Edwards isn't the only person to be thanked for this though; while his writing is great it's the two lead performances that are really essential and I think these two will be ones too watch in the future.

While I've made it quite clear that personally I preferred the human side of the story - that I could take or leave the monsters in comparison – i know there are many others around here who will not feel the same, others that are in it for the monsters (Spaulds certainly comes to mind). While I wouldn't advise taking that particular approach with this particular film, I don't think any of you creature features that do will be disappointed with what you see – and yes, you do see. The creatures are as well designed and animated as the characters. They feel totally alien to this world yet retain a certain sense of plausibility, as if they could feasibly belong to some other. Their power is also very well handled, being threatening enough in every situation but invincible in none. There is then a consistency to them that doesn't exist in a lot of other creatures, which sometimes feel like they are acting in accordance with the plot rather than their own rules or reality. While this may get some of you salivating I have to say again that well designed or no these creatures are little more than an external force, they exist off screen much more than on.

It is then, an ironically titled film I guess because the Monsters of the title are anything but central. I think the real test should be whether or not you would go and see this film were it called 'Humans'. Those that do, more specifically those that make their way all the way through to the final act, will be in for a treat as the film has a handful of utterly sublime moments. The ending itself was a little abrupt but I think it's pretty clever, probably warranting a second watch. Definitely warranting a first watch.

A beautiful, quiet, poetic movie more about places, than monsters. The film starts off a bit gimmicky - with some Cloverfield like action sequence, then it settles into the main storyline, and slowly builds on the characters, and places, the emotional landscape they experienced. It almost reminded me of "Motorcycle Diary" but with occasional monsters. Actings were superb, very natural, not forced with main characters undeniable likeness to Skeet Ulrich & Cameron Diaz.

The pacing of the movie is quite slow at times, definitely not for people looking for action. The special effects are sprinkled sparingly throughout the movie, where its needed to great effect. All in all, an engrossing, quiet movie to enjoy.

The first 3 reviews said it all. Amazing movie for a $15k budget. Amazing shots and scenery, good plot line, great acting from leads. Decent monsters and action, when it occurs. I'm starting to think it's the soundtrack that makes a movie seem "big". This movie's eerie sounds, and tension building strings draw you in, like a blockbuster. Can't believe this guy wrote, directed, edited and did the efx. A++++

And ignore the whiny babies crying about this and that. They'd rather watch blood pour out of a corpse than a decent piece of acting. As long as you don't expect another Cloverfield, you should be surprised by a unique cinematic experience. ;)

I just love this movie. It is always the sci fi element that brings me to it each time I watch it but then I remember it has such a delicate and well intentioned intimacy to it, a real human nuance. They could have easily just slammed in a romantic or sexual component right out of the gate but the beauty of it is how their relationship with each other evolves out of the shared human experience and how it evolves in a foreign land amongst others that are living with this terror daily while moving on with their lives each day, even still helping others versus other Armageddon movies which always focus on how awful people are in terrible situations. So delicate and yet very powerful. The music added a lot. Added in in just right moments. I am always just so impressed with both actors and what they and the director were able to pull off. I have not seen much of the female in much since but I have grown into a huge McNairy fan since especially for his work in Godless.

Amazing movie. A real adventure film, the way they don't make them anymore. Sometimes it felt like a travel documentary, very real, very exciting and realistic. The actors are very good, better than most high paid stars of today. And the girl are beautiful in a very natural way. She's also a wonderful actress.

I'ts important to understand that this isn't your ordinary monster movie. You very seldom see them at all, but you feel their presence. Each step of the way, when we follow the couple on their way back from Mexico to USA, we are with them. We are more like travel companions on a journey than viewers of a movie.

The CGI may lack a bit, but that's not important. Considering the extremely low budget, it's just amazing that this movie exist. The production values are still better than with most high profile movies. Do yourself a favor and See this movie for what it is. Go on a journey into a world that is realistic, exciting - and maybe, just maybe, possible.

Several years after an alien species has formed a bridgehead on the US/ Mexico border the American military are no closer to defeating the incursion . Meanwhile a photo journalist and American tourist try to navigate through the alien zone

I came to this movie not knowing much about it . But when I saw the premise I instantly thought it was going to be a hybrid of CLOVERFIELD and STALKER - a sort of Tarkovsky epic featuring lots of explosions . This is not really how it pans out and to be blunt I think I might have preferred a bit more action or at least a film that had more high concept SF trappings instead of a filmed version of a lonely planet guide book

This is the film's major flaw . Nothing happens of much note . We see the two Americans talk , negioate a ferry ticket , talk , negoiate a motel room , talk wander about and watch the sun set . It's a bit like being on a backpacker journey where you tag along with a young couple who've just met and after a short period of time you decide that it's maybe better to split up from them because they're both planning to get laid

MONSTERS did receive a lot of critical acclaim when it came out but one suspects that the acclaim comes from those who love European cinema . This is a film that would certainly appeal to fans of Wim Wenders and feels very much like a follow up to UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD . One also can't help thinking the other reason for so much praise is because it was cited as costing $15,000 to make which sounds like absolute total BS . Many short films are more expensive and they don't feature extensive location work or night filming . The IMDb states the budget was $800,000 which seems more likely . Might it not say something about a film's quality if the producers need to lie about the budget to help with the marketing ?

The kind of film I end up really loving or really hating. Unfortunately it was the latter with this one, a pretentious art-house movie that turned me off from the outset. I just found the characters to be totally uninteresting and the lack of a definite storyline made this difficult to sit through without my eyes trying to close by themselves. The film is ostensibly a science fiction story about the state of the world after an alien invasion, but writer/director Gareth Edwards has little interest in aliens and is much more interested in the human characters.

The result is a film that's completely mundane, a traditional road movie that shows two people forming a romance as they attempt to return to the USA after finding themselves trapped in Central America. Even worse, much of the storyline is focused around the developing romance between these two characters…ugh! The writing is soppy and the characters themselves are particularly unengaging, even if they're more realistic than the people we ordinarily see in films. Scoot McNairy's lead reveals himself to be a thoughtless jerk early on and never redeems himself in my eyes, while Whitney Able's love interest is purely vapid with nothing going on behind the eyes.

The only reason to sit through this movie is the beautifully-shot landscapes, which are a sight to behold. Once the action moves to the 'infected' zone the depictions of the bombed-out post-war countryside are very well achieved and eerie with it. Things pick up briefly at the climax with a surprisingly touching moment but it certainly isn't enough to change my opinion about the movie as a whole.

I sat down to watch this movie because I had read somewhere that if you liked "District 9", then you definitely didn't want to miss out on this new movie, "Monsters". Wow, what that as far from the truth as it possibly could be! This movie can be summed up in one single word: POINTLESS. Actually the word UNEVENTFUL comes to mind as well.

There was absolutely no drive to this movie. Great, something crashed in Mexico, and now these gargantuan extraterrestrials are roaming about in this quarantine zone. And they looked surprisingly like something taken out of "War of the Worlds", with parts taken from "Cloverfield", "The Host" and "The Mist". Very unoriginal!

Also, these so called 'aliens' played such a small part in the movie that they were hardly even background stand-ins. Surely, when you did see them, they were nicely made. But that was about it.

This movie is basically about two people trekking through Mexico and south of the American border, to get back to the USA. Trekking through a jungle, sailing on a river. And then getting to this massive wall USA build to keep the aliens out of USA, but yet these two (insignificant) people just strode right through it, the sheer height of the wall apparently was no hindrance. Because, we all know, to keep something out, you better make easily-accessed walk-through points in something. Come on!

The best thing in the movie, would have to be the acting put on by the two main people in the movie, and the ones you actually saw 95% of the time throughout the entire movie.

The movie is sort of being carried by an underlying love story. A story that never blossoms and comes into effect, just keeps smoldering like yesterday's barbecue grill.

In my opinion, this movie is labeled so wrong. And if you, like me, sit down to watch it because it was compared to "District 9" and if you like movies like "District 9", "The Host", "Cloverfield", etc. stay well clear of this movie. If you want to be entertained, you are better off, WAY better off, with one of the former movies mentioned above.

This was definitely the disappointment of 2010 so far, and we are soon in October already. That was an hour and a half of my life I will never get back, unfortunately.

A week after seeing it, I still feel that Monsters was the most maddening film I saw at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. It had quite a bit of hype surrounding it, specifically around young first-time director Gareth Edwards and what he managed to pull off with a $15,000 budget, and ideas similar to last year's breakout smash, District 9. I stayed away from trailers to remain unspoiled by the potential genius at work, and went in with some fairly high expectations.

These expectations appear to be integral to how maddening an experience watching the film continues to be.

Monsters takes place six years in the future, after a NASA probe containing alien DNA crash lands in Mexico. Alien life begins to appear, and much of the area gets cordoned off as an "Infected Zone". Enter photographer Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy), who is tasked with the assignment of getting his boss' daughter Samantha (Whitney Able) from Mexico back to her home in the States safely. Regular boat or air travel offer no help, so Andrew is forced to trek through the Infected Zone to bring Samantha home.

Besides dumping any expectations you may have for Monsters, I immediately also suggest disregarding any comparisons to District 9 or Cloverfield. Outside of the inventive, overused hand-held camera-style filmmaking, the idea of alien segregation and the (significantly) cheap production budget, Monsters shares nothing with either of these two films. This is a movie all its own, that may owe a bit of imagination and drive to those films, but should not be compared to them. Both of those films offered a visceral, blazingly unique experience that few films have replicated since. Their ingenious marketing campaigns only helped strengthen the ideas in the films, and the Academy even felt District 9 worthy of a historic Best Picture nomination.

But Monsters will likely not have any of that. It is a very slow moving, very emotionally driven film. There are some action scenes (including a rather amazingly well done opening scene, shot entirely through night vision), but the majority of the film is spent focused on the relationship between Andrew and Samantha, and is frequently very quiet. A comparison to a film like Before Sunrise/Before Sunset is not totally out of the question here – you just need to add aliens. Hopefully this more apt comparison does not turn off intrigued viewers, although it may attract more. But it likely will drop anyone's expectations significantly. I know I was not prepared to watch an indie drama, but that is much closer a description to what it actually is.

This is where the problem I had with the film lies. Because it spends so much time on the two characters, it frequently feels very dragged out and boring. I was interested in the plight of Andrew and Samantha from the beginning, but by the end of the film, I really felt like I could care less. There is an emotional drive at work throughout the film that really feels punctuated in some heartwrenching scenes. But the film never seems able to engage the viewer for more than a few instants, before reverting to drawn out, lingering shots and emphasized silence. It makes for an uncomfortable viewing experience in some spots as you wait for the science fiction/horror elements to take over, but also because you just cannot decide whether you should continue watching or just move onto something else.

The actors themselves are both rather great, bringing emotional and authentic notions to their characters. We never really learn much about either character outside of a few minute details, but we do get to see them grow as people desperate to find their way in the world. Despite their undeniable chemistry (the pair were dating at the time of filming and are now expecting a child at the time of the festival screening), I found McNairy's performance to be the stronger of the two. He gets the most dialogue, and bares the majority of the emotional brunt throughout the film, and the toll it takes on him shows right through in the last half of the film. This is not to say Able does not perform excellently – her long, silent stares just do not have the emotional depth of the major moments for McNairy.

Complaints and disappointments aside, the real reason for any hype whatsoever is the beauty and horror captured on camera. The film is very gritty and real, and for good reason. The sets are all taken from real places, and the extras are local people in these areas. When we see decimated buildings and towns which the film blames the aliens for, we are actually looking at real areas that look like this in various parts of the world. But when they are captured as merely a background for our characters to walk past or interact with, there is a still beauty that only a film this cheap could capture. It makes for rather horrific sights in most cases, but just the sheer magnitude of what Edwards captures on film is enough to make you reconsider any wavering thoughts you had on the film.

The special effects, used very sparingly and subtly, are absolutely magnificent for what the budget allows. They do not have the slick Hollywood shine, but they are rather incredible to see in action anyway. Edwards did most of, if not all, the work himself, and the labour that went into creating the effects is not lost in its transition to the big screen.

Monsters remains a maddening experience for me because while I will incur that I was incredibly disappointed by it, I have also come to appreciate what Edwards was able to do with such a small amount of money. Go in with small expectations, and you just may come out surprised by the experience.

7/10.

(An edited version of this review also appeared on http://www.geekspeakmagazine.com).

Not exactly what I expected, but a movie well worth watching nonetheless. It's a story about a journey through zone infected by alien organisms. Where it lacks action, it makes up by amazing scenery. As you follow the two main characters, you see the fight between humans and the aliens from their point of view – on the TV, in the radio, in the scenery all around them. Most of the destruction happened before the main protagonist get on the scene, which really draws you in and it gives you this eerie feeling it just might be real. While you don't see much of the monsters, you can always feel their presence. At the end you can only feel awe, respect and humility towards the huge octopus-like aliens.

The actors are good and you can relate to them. Whitney Able is stunning girl in a very natural way and she deserves to be cast in lead roles more often.

For such a low-budget movie it's amazing how well it came out. I give it solid 8/10 and hope we will see more movies like this.

This should be called "Boredom" instead, absolutely pointless!

Acting seems stupid, certain explanations are left out, and it's just a waste of an hour and 30 minutes of your life!!!

Please don't watch, you'll be bored with the lack of "Monsters", the lack of any action, the lack of casualties, and the halfway stupid love story mixed into it, it is trying to go all over the place, but isn't getting it right in any direction, absolutely horrible!!!

1 / 10 if i could give it any lower, i would, it's such a pointless thing to watch, pollen numbers are more interesting, that's how sad this waste of production is...