You do the Monster(s) Mash

Monsters
November 25th 2010 (Australian release date)
Dir: Gareth Edwards

You do the Monster(s) Mash? It's like I'm not even trying anymore! Lift your game Lomas!

In what is being called 2010's District-9, the sole connection being that they both have aliens at the centre of their human stories, writer director Gareth Edwards gives us an often beautiful film that collapses on itself in the closing scene.

After a NASA space probe crashes, littering the alien space samples on board, the US-Mexico border is turned into an Infected Zone. Photo journalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) is charged with the duty of escorting his boss's daughter Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able) from Mexico back to the United States. When Kaulder's tryst with a local costs them their passports and money the pair must go directly through the Infected Zone and hilarity and hijinks ensue... no, wait - monsters ensue.

The 'monsters' of the film's title are arguably not the alien creatures that have infested the land, but the humans intent on destroying them. The aliens are rarely seen, perhaps a strategy to optimise the limited budget, a reported $500,000 - incredible! The message of humans as monsters is a bit hammy; there's even a scene where the two leads comment on an enormous wall the United States Government has erected in an attempt to keep the 'monsters' out. But overall this is an engaging film.

The score grabbed me in particular, and together with the beautiful cinematography as Andrew and Samantha make their way through the Infected Zone, I was convinced early on that this would make my 'Top10' list for 2010 ... if I ever do a Top 10 list that is. It wasn't until the closing scene that my opinion changed so radically that I was convinced the poor ending soured my opinion of the film as a whole.

By introducing two aliens at the conclusion of the film; up until now we only see glimpses of them, director Gareth Edwards turns up the cheese-o-meter to 'you've got to be kidding me' and destroys his film. The previous memorable scenes, haunting score, understated and beautiful acting between the two leads, are instantly covered in a gooey mess of liquified dairy. How disappointing.

If I could use all my powers of imagination I can pretend the final scene didn't happen and the film's "message" to the audience wasn't so in your face, and I could say Monsters is one of the best films of 2010. It's intense and beautiful, a love story set in unstable times. But the message was so blatant and unnecessary, the final scene DID happen and in hindsight my bitterness has tarnished my high initial opinion.

3.5 / 5