MONSTERS (2010 - THRILLER / SCI-FI / DRAMA) **** out of ***** or 8 out of 10
(Better forget about that Mexican vacation, folks...)
CAST: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able
DIRECTOR: Gareth Edwards
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some damn good arguments against sending NASA space probes to collect alien life - straight ahead...
IT'S LIKE THIS: Ah, traveling. Is there a more wonderful thing in the world? You get to see new places, meet new people, have grand adventures, and broaden your horizons so that you end up a more worldly, enlightened individual. The flip side of traveling is that you have to sometimes endure the unexpected. Sometimes that can be something as simple as a hotel with a bathroom so small you could plant both palms and both feet squarely on each of the four walls - and hover over the floor without touching it. Other times, it can mean getting lost in a strange city with wonky GPS instructions sending you driving back and forth along the same deserted stretch of urban road, like a particularly-fucked-up episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. And then there's our next review, MONSTERS, which unequivocally takes the cake when it comes to "Unexpected Shitty Travel Developments."
You see, MONSTERS is set in the "near future" after some dumb-ass scientists from NASA have sent a space probe to collect alien life forms previously detected by satellite (or something). Clearly, these imbeciles have either never heard of real-life Astrophysicist Professor Stephen Hawking's warning against making any attempts to contact aliens - lest we be colonized or wiped out - or have chosen to outright ignore it. If the latter is the case, then bad idea, assholes. Very bad idea.
Sure enough, when the NASA space probe re-enters Earth's atmosphere, it promptly explodes and rains down its extra-terrestrial cargo samples onto - are you ready for this? - Mexico. And much like a farmer who falls off his horse and spills a bunch of seeds on the side of the road, things begin growing not much later. Except in the case of MONSTERS, we're not talking about tomato bushes or raspberry plants suddenly sprouting unexpectedly. Nope, what we have in MONSTERS are, well, monsters. Monsters who are 200 - 300 feet tall and look like the one-night-stand-threesome children of a giant crab, a giant spider, and a giant squid. As I said: really bad idea, assholes...
Flash forward six years or so, and we discover that the area that was "infected" by the extra-terrestrial debris from the space probe explosion has been designated as the, uh, "Infected Zone." This is basically most of Northern Mexico, folks. In response, the United States has erected a massive wall along the U.S-Mexico border to keep them pesky aliens out - and I ain't just talking about the two-legged, illegal, terrestrial ones. I'm also talking about the gargantuan, 300-foot tall, spider-crab-squid-looking ones. Who are, let's face it, illegal as well since they are not even from Earth. Meanwhile, Southern Mexico is basically a chaotic whirlwind of damaged cities and swirling military patrols, intent on keeping the "creatures" contained within the Infected Zone.
In the middle of all of this madness are our two leads. First, we have our hero: photojournalist Andrew Calder (Scoot McNairy), who has come to Southern Mexico to photograph the destruction of the creatures, who are apparently gradually expanding their roaming territory. He also hopes to get some pictures of actual live creatures so he can finally win a Pulitzer or Emmy or something. Next, we have our heroine: rich heiress Samantha Wyndon (Whitney Able), who is also the daughter of the president of Andrew's magazine. Apparently, Sam is down in Mexico traveling solo to, I guess, "find herself" before she marries her choad fiancee. Sweetie, that's fine and all. But did you have to pick the one place on Earth filled with monsters as big as the Chrysler building? Girl, we need to talk...
Sure enough, word spreads that all ferries back to the United States (that bypass the Infected Zone) will be shutting down within the next 48 hours because of increased fighting between the creatures and the military. If Sam misses the last ferry, she will basically be stuck in Mexico for the next 6 months - caught in the cross-fire. I bet Sam now wishes she'd just opted for a hiking trip through Norway or train trek through Italy instead. Too late now. Anyhow, Andrew is notified by his office to track Sam down and escort her ASAP to the nearest port with a ferry still running. Needless to say, Andrew is a little pissed off that he has to take time away from taking pics of big-azz monsterz and play babysitter/escort to some chick who, while a complete hottie, probably wasn't using her head when she planned her vacation.
Unfortunately, after a night of partying with Tequila and hooking up with the wrong chick, Andrew gets not only his and Sam's passports stolen - but also her ferry ticket back to the (relative) safety of the U.S. I should also point out the opportunistic Mexican ferry operators charged Sam about $5,000 for the ticket. To say that Sam is just a little pissed off at Andrew for his bonehead move wouldn't exactly be an understatement. Now, it appears that Sam and Andrew have only one option left to them if they want to make it back to the U.S. before all hell breaks loose between the creatures and the military: travel through the Infected Zone to the U.S.-Mexico wall - and enter that way. You know, just like an illegal alien?
Will it work? How can Andrew and Sam make it through hundreds of miles of jungle and river potentially filled with unknown, mysterious creatures? Will they make it to the wall safely? Will they develop mutual respect and regard for each other as they make their perilous journey? Will they even fall in love? What about Sam's engagement to her choad fiancee? And most importantly, what is waiting for them on the other side of the wall?
Let's just say that moving out of the Americas and into Europe is starting to look better and better, folks...
BUT SERIOUSLY: When we heard that GODZILLA was going to be re-made yet again, our interest level was very low. The last Hollywood version of the oft-filmed monster saga starred Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno back in 1998 and while it wasn't as bad as most people say, it still wasn't anything special. The problem with many big-budget monster movies is the human element often gets overlooked, and by "human element" we mean actual sympathetic characters and interactions between them. Many writers often substitute lame comedy for humanity, and such was the case with GODZILLA 1998. It had very little staying power because you didn't really care about anyone onscreen.
JURASSIC PARK was one of the few big-budget monster movies to avoid this pitfall, and it was because of director Steven Spielberg's reliably human touch (best captured in the "ice cream" scene between Laura Dern and Sir Richard Attenborough's characters). Even though the dinosaurs were undeniably the star of the show, Spielberg and his writers knew not to ignore the human players - and gave them enough dimension and nuance to keep us engaged in their plight. Quite frankly, when we heard of the new GODZILLA remake, we were sure it would be closer to GODZILLA 1998 than JURASSIC PARK.
That is, until we heard that British director Gareth Edwards would be directing. After that, we were on board 100%. You see, Gareth Edwards got the GODZILLA remake gig because of his work directing MONSTERS, a micro-budget sci-fi/romance/thriller that has been described as "a cross between LOST IN TRANSLATION and JURASSIC PARK." This is a very apt description, as MONSTERS combines the action and dread of a monster movie with the quietly intimate feel of a love story. In this film, Edwards wisely puts equal importance to character dynamics as he does to the threat of the aliens in their midst - and the result is a movie that is a full-blooded suspense-thriller, but yet somehow also lovely, lyrical, and melancholy. We felt that if Edwards approached GODZILLA in the same way he handled MONSTERS, then we could very well have a classic film on our hands this summer when it is finally released.
MONSTERS was made guerilla-style on a shoe-string budget. Basically, Edwards reportedly took his two leads and a skeleton crew and traveled all over Mexico, shooting scenes on the fly, and using a lot of improv and locals for extra. The result is a raw, real, immediate feel that is often missing from more polished entries with much-higher budgets. It also helps considerably that Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able are a real-life couple with genuine chemistry. Edwards has said that he wanted a real couple because he wanted that immediate connection to be palpable to audiences. Well, it worked, because the evolution of Andrew and Sam's connection is made compelling by McNairy and Able, largely because of their natural intimacy and talents. Not surprisingly, McNairy and Able have since married, and McNairy has gone on to bigger productions like ARGO and NONSTOP.
There are many scenes detailing the touching development of Andrew and Sam's relationship, to include: (1) the "night-life-party" sequence on the eve of Sam's initial ferry departure; (2) a somber scene at a candle-light vigil for fallen victims of the battle between the military and monsters; (3) a nice moment where Andrew adjusts the bandage on Sam's hand, which kind of marks a turning point in their relationship; (4) a lovely sequence on top of a Mexican ruin where their deceptively light conversation hints at deeper themes; and last but definitely the best: (5) the climax at an isolated Texas gas station where the various threads of the move finally dovetail in the most hypnotically-gorgeous way... well, you'll just have to see.
Finally, strong praise must also be paid to Jon Hopkins' beautiful music score, which combines dread, terror, sadness, yearning, and hope - and goes a long way in giving MONSTERS its uniquely surreal, dreamily-intimate feel that is a marked difference from many other monster movies. If Gareth Edwards can bring even just a fraction of MONSTERS' combo of ethereal atmosphere and pulse-pounding suspennse to his remake of GODZILLA, then that will be enough for us to actually go see it.
