The Film
There’s a lot to admire in the indie/sci-fi/horror piece “Monsters”: It manages to create a post-apocalyptic landscape on a very modest budget; it comes from a group of UK filmmakers, but it stars Americans and takes place in Mexico; and, despite its title and a slick handful of creepy giant monsters, the film is actually more about humans than it is about, well, monsters.
The premise is pretty nifty: It’s several years after a space probe has crashed in Central Mexico, and that particular section of the country is pretty much infested with giant monsters. Created with care and detail, presented on the screen through some rather clever means, the creatures look like they flopped right out of an H.P. Lovecraft nightmare: they’re stadium-sized “clawed octopus” beasties, and their menace is not limited to sheer size and clumsiness. Turns out the beasts also exude a noxious gas that will kill you if you don’t have a gas mask nearby.
So a large section of Mexico is walled off. There are ferries that can take people to and from the safety of the United States, but unfortunately our poor heroes are unable to afford the safe route. Andrew, you see, is a photojournalist who is always on the lookout for some rubble left behind by the monsters, but a phone call from the big boss means that Andrew has a new assignment: to transport the man’s gorgeous daughter Samantha to the safety of American shores. Easier said than done? Absolutely.
Sort of an indie flick cross between Terrence Malick and a Godzilla movie, “Monsters” is a fascinatingly low-key approach to the rather standard “monsters gone wild!” concept. First off, and I hope this doesn’t turn you off to the film, “Monsters” is not a rock ‘em, sock ‘em, ass-kick of a monster movie. Indeed, long stretches of the film flit by with nary a monster to be seen, but that’s how we know that the filmmakers are considerably more interested in the human element than they are in the gigantic, gross, and other-worldly. But once the monsters do make their appearances, the sci-fi junkies will have a grand old time with the Cthulhu-esque monstrosities.
The two leads (Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able) are practically the only characters in the film, and the performers deliver consistently excellent work—particularly as the film goes on and they begin warming to each other in refreshingly realistic ways. Even more interesting are the subtler touches that writer/director Gareth Edwards employs, such as his observation that, after the impact of an alien threat, most human beings would learn (and learn quickly) how to be just a little bit kinder to one another. The low-key approach extends to the journey as well: the desolation and destruction work as melancholy set pieces, which lends the film a soft-spoken realism that makes the creatures a little creepier and the leads’ burgeoning love affair a little bit sweeter.
Definitely not the action-packed gore-fest that its title may imply, “Monsters” is instead a road movie, a romantic drama, a post-apocalyptic thriller, and a nifty little parable about the human condition all rolled into one. As such, and for a few additional reasons that’d fall under the category of “spoiler,” I dug “Monsters” a lot.
The DVD
Video and Audio:
“Monsters,” as will be made quite obvious while screening the film, was shot digitally with a slick Sony camera that shares a few similarities with commonplace SLR cameras. The DVD preserves the appropriate look and 2.35:1 aspect ratio within its HD AVC encode, and the results are a high-definition treatment that reflects on the source material with impressive accuracy.
The Dolby Digital EX Master Audio track’s certainly a winner. Every aural element crammed into the film sounds exceptional; from the beautiful momentum-driven scoring to the splashing of water and thunder rolling, the range of surround channels spread outwards as wide as the travels captured in the film. Optional English and Spanish subs are available.
Special Features:
“Audio Commentary with Gareth Edwards, Scoot McNairy, and Whitney Able”:
You’ll get a hefty dose of focused Filmmaking 101 stuff in the other supplements, so don’t worry if this commentary’s more jovial, lighthearted, and sparse with its context. I loved how Edwards and his actors aggressively point out their characters in the harrowing moments at the beginning of the film, and how they admit to being hung-over before explaining why they changed the title from “Far From Home.”
Rounding things out are a generic, now thoroughly redundant “HDNet: A Look at Monsters” (4:40) featurette that works better almost as an overlong trailer. Also included are a small series of lengthy “Deleted/Extended Scenes” (20:07).
Grade ★ ★ ★ out of 5 stars
Distributed by C-Interactive Digital Entertainment
Available at all Astrovision and Astroplus branches nationwide
