Gareth Edward's first movie. Very impressive considering the shoestring budget. Not at all what you expect - much more character-driven than action packed. More romantic drama, than horror, though there are definitely scares to be had here. Very well shot, and keeps the suspense up by not showing the monsters until necessary. Recommended.
After an hour or so you start to think if you made a mistake watching this movie.
15 minutes later you are sure of it.
Boring as only a chess game with yourself can be.
Wow, I did not expect that. This is not really a monster or alien movie, even though it is set in the world of one, it's more of a character movie. Even if there is not a whole lot of plot going on, it somehow ends up being ... beautiful. The whole last scene was just perfect.
I was suckered. Suckered by the trailer that made no secret that this was a giant monster movie. It wasn't. What it was was a tale of two people that fall in love while trying to get back home to the U.S. Now it wasn't a bad tale. The two characters were likable enough and their interactions with the residents of Mexico were interesting at times. Their journey was interrupted a bit by conflict but NOT monsters. Science fiction is more often than not an allegory anyway but if your going to sell your movie as a monster movie then you have to eventually tell that tale and your social commentary needs to play a secondary role to big monster action. Do you think people attending a romantic comedy would appreciate the movie actually being about giant monsters?
As it is the monsters appear for about 10 minutes and when they do they are shrouded in dark grainy or distant shots that hide their quality. And yes the movie was made for a shoestring budget which explains this.
Look this movie is about the current immigration policy of the U.S. and it is frankly heavy-handed. When the two alien monsters "embrace" it's pretty clear that the makers of this movie are trying to relay that illegal immigrants are just like the people of the U.S. and that Americans are the real monsters for denying others the ability to cross the border. Of course this message came complete with the obligatory kick in the crotch about suburban Americans being blind to the plight of others which is an overreaching assumption and a lazy oversimplification. You're much better off watching a documentary critical of immigration policy if you're looking to reaffirm your stance on that position than you are watching this movie. Monster movie nerds like me are just going to go away mad for paying $10 and not seeing giant monsters no matter what it is you want to get off your chest.
It was made on a extremely small budget and made the most of it. The scary part of it is more the fear of the "monster" than actual monsters. I enjoyed it but the ending was very abrupt.
Hm, that i a typical 5/10-Movie. It doesn't make much wrong, but has to less ups. Also the ending is a little bit disappointing short.
In the end: 5/10 to make a not bad movie with very little budget
Thanks for the heads up beamr.
Been meaning to check this out.
Is it any good?
Film 79 (Goal: 300) of 2024
Monsters is the directorial debut of Gareth Edwards - who would go on to do Rogue One, Godzilla (the 1st in the new Monsterverse) and recently The Creator. The film is a slow burn revolving around two characters, who are attempting to make their way from Mexico back to the U.S. border. The simple premise is altered in that the world they live in is different to our own. A probe was launched to collect samples of alien life, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone.
While the film opens with a brief action scene, the action in this film is few and far between. If anything, it's almost a love story, set against the background of an alien infested world. I'd even argue, the morale is love can occur no matter the circumstances. But because of this, this film is as I said a slow burn and that may be off-putting for some.
It's amazing what Gareth Edwards has done with a budget reportedly less than a million dollars. It's almost as if, when talented filmmakers are limited, they squeeze the most potential out of everything - and you get a better film because of it. But for a miniscule budget, the film looks impeccable. Gareth Edwards was also the visual director on this, and he's done an amazing job.
Many people may be turned off by Monsters because it can be an extremely slow journey. But just for the achievement alone of making this, for such a small budget, it deserves a viewing from any film lover.
Nothing too amazing in this film, just an alright Point A to Point B movie with some muddled social commentary mixed in. I wish there were more scenes with the creatures to see what they are actually like, but I also understand that's not the main part of the movie.
Pretty boring and didn't handle the social commentary, monsters or romance well. Not terrible, but also not much of anything, despite (or likely, because of) trying to be so many things.
Like a film in a bottle, the movie gets lost in the sea of message (Who are the real monsters?) and romance, but it's high production value was a welcome surprise on my local streaming horror service so, all in all, I'm glad I found it.
Monsters is a creative take on monster genre, stripping it of its usual fantastical elements and replacing them with an understated look at what life could be in such circumstances. Some great visuals, clever pacing and flashes of social commentary shine while the protagonists are bland and bad CGI breaks immersion now and then.
You do have a monster in your monster movie don't you?
The kiss at the last scene is perfect cinematically.
A simple tale of two people getting from A to B while falling for each other along the way...plus there's some stuff about aliens going on in the background too. It's a nice wee flick, worth your time if you've not seen it before.
What an absolute waste of time. No wonder Godzilla 2014 was such a disappointment. It feels like Gareth Edwards would rather make romance movies, but knowing those would probably fail, he drops kaijus in the background and markets them as monster movies instead. A complete fraud. The only thing good about this film was that it depicted an actual mexico border wall which was funny.
Faked me out. Had me thinking I was watching a horror/monster movie, instead it was just a love story. You tricky bastards.
Had some potential, but ended very abruptly.
A disappointment, only look the actors walking, little monsters, boring, little budget
On s'ennuie du début à la fin.
It is not sci-fi movie, it is a rethorical apology of immigration and a condemn of US border administration. childish.
This is not the run of mill typical hollywood sci-fi!!!! People need to understand that. It's not a Michael Bay, with explosions and lens flair .. its not even "about monsters" its about people..
Very good movie, with a VERY small budget, that managed to get a kick in the groins of most hollywood productions.
Good plot but a little boring...
No unless you want to waste a couple of hours. Hardly any action/drama.
Been meaning to check this out.
Is it any good?
Didn't think much of this movie.
Only had a $15,000 budget, beat that Hollywood!
Shout by Coli23BlockedParent2019-08-16T21:43:26Z
Whitney is the only thing goodabout this movie.