The Story
2 years ago, aliens landed on earth. Now, they are no longer aliens, but residents. That is the opening premise of “Monsters” and the story starts with two people trying to get out of Mexico via an infected zone. An infected zone means an area where monsters are likely to attack people. Cue ominous bass tone! Why hasn’t IMDB hired me yet, right?
Characters
I’m going to jump right off the story line by saying that the characters are bland and boring. All of them, not just the two main ones that you are forced to follow on an equally bland and boring journey through an infected zone to the alleged safety of the United States.
The two main characters are: A photo journalist who has been asked by his boss to escort his daughter home from a disaster in Central America. The other characters are various people that hinder or help the travel plans of the two main characters. Starting with a dirty, conniving ferry boat owner who tries to charge them $5000.00 to cross safely over the water to the USA to a prostitute who steals Samantha’s passport so she is forced to find these illegal travel means in the first place. Then there is the raucous, gun-toting group of Mexicans that help the couple cross a river by boat at night.
The conversations are stilted and awkward at best, probably due to the fact that the majority of the shots were “opportunistic” meaning that they just pulled out the camera without informing people what they were really filming and they talked about things like the size of Alligators and trees and made it sound like they were talking about gargantuan, scary monsters!
Gore/Special Effects
The only “effects” to speak of are the aliens themselves which looked like large, transparent Octopus-like creatures that have red sparks flowing through their bodies. We never saw them attack anything directly, only hear them using some sort of extrasensory output to communicate with each other. We gather that they only attack when provoked and see only light. They attack people who shoot at them and toss moving vehicles aside. Not much else happens in the way of action.
Final Head Count
I’d say once is definitely enough, there is nothing complex or lasting in the story line that would have me wanting to watch it again. The characters had zero chemistry and I didn’t feel like they were in love exactly but merely in the throes of a “dangerous” situation and feeling a connection from that. The story was pretty simple, nothing very exciting happens. Altogether it’s a pretty disappointing and forgettable film.
One, or rather Uno Heads!
Monsters Movie Review - Graveside Entertainment
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