"Monsters," Gone Monstrously Wrong

I had not even heard of the film “Monsters” when I decided to go see it at the cinema. The description made it sound entertaining enough: a NASA mission goes wrong and somehow aliens begin to inhabit the northern part of Mexico. This section is creatively called the “infected zone” and is highly dangerous for humans to enter. I don’t consider myself a seasoned film critic, but I think that it’s safe to say that this movie was just short of a disaster.

            To begin with, the viewer was provided with very little background on the two main characters and why they end up travelling together in the first place. In short, a freelance photographer is working in Mexico, trying to photograph the disasters that occur as a result of the aliens. The owner of the publishing company he works for’s daughter is in Mexico when one of the aliens destroys a hospital, which she happens to be staying at. The photographer is instructed by the company to escort the girl home and thus begins their adventure. The whole premise of the film is fairly trite, so I was expecting there to be some kind of twist or surprise that never came.

            The quality of the acting and the dialogue definitely didn’t help the film accomplish anything. The actors seemed slightly uncomfortable and the dynamic between them was awkward. The male actor was supposed to be tough and dominating, but he just came off as impatient and annoying. The female actress was supposed to be torn between her fiancé and the man who she was on this journey with, but her interest in the male actor was hard to detect. The viewer had to rely on the fact that they were two good looking people of the same age in order to assume that at some point they were going to take interest in each other. There were certain points where the film tried to incorporate some deep, emotional, philosophical conversations, but the actors weren’t able to deliver them genuinely. It was obvious that they were trying to put a sentimental spin on the plot when perhaps they should have just stuck with the sci-fi adventure theme and let the romantic storyline cover all the emotional stuff.

            The most convincing part of the acting was the element of sexual tension. The audience expected the two protagonists to end up together at the end of the film. After an hour and a half of buildup, they finally share a kiss, and are then pulled apart by military men who are trying to evacuate them from the area. The fate of their relationship left completely up to the audience, so there is hardly any closure for the strongest emotional journey in the entire film.

            The only redeeming quality that this film possessed was the cinematography. The film was visually very appealing and the places they found to shoot in were beautiful. Perhaps if there had been music instead of dialogue, the film would have been more enjoyable. Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend this film for anyone who is irritated easily by insincere acting and the generic journey storyline.

--Madeline Turner UCSB