Monsters (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Gareth Edwards (Godzilla)
	Actors: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able, Mario Zuniga Benavides
	Country: GB
	Genre: SF, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 18.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After collecting samples in space, a probe crashes in Mexico and alien life starts to develop, making it an infected zone. Andrew (McNairy) and Sam (Able) are trying to reach the USA from the other side of the zone.
Review: The first feature-length movie by digital effect specialist Gareth Edwards is what I would call a minimalistic monster movie. So don't be fooled by the title and do not expect an Action movie. What makes the movie interesting for me is that it depicts a realistic alien infection on Earth, including the reaction of the people (some trying to make money out of it, other ones too poor to escape from it...) and of the government (different approaches from Mexico or the USA). In fact we barely see monsters throughout the whole movie, only glimpses here and there, and small mushroom-like aliens. You have to wait for a long time before they are revealed. This new approach to the "alien invasion" theme was quite original and has motivated Hollywood producers to entrust the direction of the Godzilla reboot to Edwards and we can recognize the same style in both movies: off-camera monster action and more focus on characters. I had seen Monsters at the Munich Fantasy Filmfest in 2010, and on second viewing it looks cheaper than I remembered (some digital effect look like they could have been generated by the FxGuru smartphone application) and also more empty: there is really nothing happening in the movie and Sam asks to Andrew two or three times: "what will you do tomorrow?". The sequel Monsters: Dark Continent (not directed by Edwards) seems to use another approach but received bad critics.
Rating: 5 /10