Monsters

Edwards shot the semi-improvised Monsters on the fly, and positions it more as a romantic travelogue with occasional glimpses of 50-foot-tall beasties than as an effects-laden action-adventure. He uses his Mexican location well, exploiting the exoticism of dusty villages and ancient jungle temples, all while coaxing strong performances from McNairy and Able. The effects-work is stunning, especially toward the end, when the heroes get their first long look at the wall penning in the aliens, and at the aliens themselves. Rather than using the effects to dazzle or shock, Edwards goes for awe, and comes up with moments that are staggeringly poetic and provocative—right up to an ending guaranteed to get viewers arguing about its meaning.

But those moments are all too rare in Monsters, overwhelmed by a conventional “mismatched would-be lovers on the run” plot that Edwards and his cast treat with way too much reverence. The dialogue is bland and familiar, and the approach so down-to-Earth/slice-of-life that Monsters is frequently tedious. Edwards takes some big chances in setting out to make a movie in which the genre elements are deep in the background rather than front-and-center. He’s said that his intent was to begin where most monster movies end. So why does Monsters feel like it never gets started?

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