Monsters

Monsters proves what Skyline  comprehensively failed to - that low budget sci-fi really can work. This was shot with minimal crew, a cast of two with all other roles being filled in by locals met on the journey through Central America and all the special effects added in director Gareth Edwards' laptop.

The story follows photographer Andrew (In Search of a Midnight Kiss' Scoot McNairy) who is ordered by his boss to make sure the boss' daughter Samantha (Whitney Able) gets back to America safely through the infected zone (an area of Northern Mexico inhabited by strange giant squid like creatures following the crash of a space probe bringing samples back from another planet). Director Edwards has described it as an action movie for girls or a romance for boys or a road trip movie for monsters. All of these descriptions fit. Real-life couple McNairy and Able have a natural chemistry and their gradual falling for each other in underplayed and utterly believable. The main characters are largely on the periphery of what action there is happening, but when it does happen it is extremely effective.

There's also some intelligent and thought-provoking dialogue - look out for the discussion about the relative price for a photo of a dead child and a happy smiling child and what happens when the situation arises for real. The film also implies a certain ambiguity to its title - we never see an unprovoked attack by the creatures and a final act scene at a gas station is amazingly beautiful. So is the the problem here the creatures or the militaristic response to them?

The film is not a total success - some of the supporting parts are notably amateurish and a circular structure is a gimmick that adds little and detracts somewhat from the ending. However, these are minor quibbles.

Overall - 7.5/10 A remarkable piece of ambitious, intelligent film-making on a limited budget.