Monsters (2010)

3 0 0
                                    

This is the perfect example of why I always should write a review. We watch the trailer, I'm all "Yeah, that looks good." We start watching the movie giant octopii destroying Mexico, buildings smashed, military smashed, guy and girl unite to escape back to the USofA. You'd think that should all be memorable. Then we get to this weird ticket buying scene where prices get inflated and suddenly I'm "Hang on, we've seen this before."

I don't know when or where, but I definitely know I've seen this film before, and not in the cinema. So watching the rest of it is kinda creepy weird, because there are bits I have no idea about, and then suddenly I get this really clear or completely murky vision in my head and I can go "and in a minute, XXXX will happen" or "and now XXX will do this." But it's not a perfect memory, and yet it's all still in there, somehow taking up chemical spaces in my neurons like a creepy dream I had when I was seven. This movie is a ghost that lives in my head even though I had no idea it was in there.

It's a very pretty story. It does amazing scenery with real dedication to great destroyed locations. A decent budget has been spent on sign painting, gas masks and great-wall CGI. The giant Octopus monsters are lovely enough, in their fleeting, haunting, destructive way. I guess it's trying to be a story about experiencing the desperation of becoming a fleeing refugee, and the bonds that form between humans under those situations. But the characters aren't amazing and the plot isn't really a plot.

But it does do that kind of ethereal nature vibe I quite enjoy. A bit like War of the Worlds meets Annihilation meets The Endless. It's not bad, but it's not amazing.

J* gives it 3 stars.

j*  Movie Reviews 2019Where stories live. Discover now