MONSTERS
***
Director: Gareth Edwards
Screenwriter: Gareth Edwards
Principal cast:
Scoot McNairy
Whitney Able
Mario Zuniga Benavides
Annalee Jeffries
Justin Hall
Ricky Catter
Country: UK/Mexico/Guatemala
Classification: M
Runtime: 94 mins.
Australian release date: 25 November 2010
Gareth Edwards, known for his BAFTA award winning visual effects in the series 7 Wonders Of The Industrial World, wrote, shot and directed, Monsters, which is not your average sci-fi movie. Edwards was inspired while watching a group of fishermen in the Maldives, who were struggling to get their catch on board, when he imagined a huge monster with tentacles rising out of the water. With his solid background and experience in CGI animation, he was able to envisage a story which made the creatures, ‘more visually interesting and almost beautiful to look at’. And indeed, they are.
The film opens six years after a NASA space probe has crashed to earth, somewhere near the Mexico/USA border. The area has been walled off and quarantined. This is not an unrealistic vision as the USA is currently attempting to stop illegal immigrants from the south from entering the country using the same method. In this case, the wall is to stop the ‘aliens’ from crossing the border.
Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) is a photojournalist on a day’s assignment, trying to get photographs of the creatures, when he is asked to help the boss’s daughter, Sam Wynden (Whitney Able), get back to the USA. Their attempt to leave is thwarted by the theft of Sam’s passport. Andrew then decides to accompany her on what turns out to be a precarious journey through the contaminated zone when their ‘safe’ ferry passage is cancelled.
The use of special effects is pretty impressive as the creatures are bathed in lots of black and red light which gives them a hallucinogenic aura that blends in nicely with the Mexican sunsets. They actually look like giant octopuses and in one scene exhibit an almost human rapport which gives the film its sense of beauty and realism. Sam and Andrew become more accustomed to the flare-ups happening around them and instead of being terrorized, they are hypnotized by the extra-terrestrials. They go on a journey that is both literal and emotional. The prospect of going back to their ‘normal’ lives seems unfathomable as they have, through their experience, gained a whole new outlook on life and the universe.
Edwards has created a monster movie, a love story and a road movie, which succeeds without the backing of a Hollywood budget. I would put Monsters on a par with the likes of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9. Both films could be said to be metaphors, dealing with issues of race and migration. I suspect we will be seeing many more films along these lines in the future. And, I predict that Edwards is a new director to watch out for.
Screenwriter: Gareth Edwards
Principal cast:
Scoot McNairy
Whitney Able
Mario Zuniga Benavides
Annalee Jeffries
Justin Hall
Ricky Catter
Country: UK/Mexico/Guatemala
Classification: M
Runtime: 94 mins.
Australian release date: 25 November 2010
Gareth Edwards, known for his BAFTA award winning visual effects in the series 7 Wonders Of The Industrial World, wrote, shot and directed, Monsters, which is not your average sci-fi movie. Edwards was inspired while watching a group of fishermen in the Maldives, who were struggling to get their catch on board, when he imagined a huge monster with tentacles rising out of the water. With his solid background and experience in CGI animation, he was able to envisage a story which made the creatures, ‘more visually interesting and almost beautiful to look at’. And indeed, they are.
The film opens six years after a NASA space probe has crashed to earth, somewhere near the Mexico/USA border. The area has been walled off and quarantined. This is not an unrealistic vision as the USA is currently attempting to stop illegal immigrants from the south from entering the country using the same method. In this case, the wall is to stop the ‘aliens’ from crossing the border.
Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) is a photojournalist on a day’s assignment, trying to get photographs of the creatures, when he is asked to help the boss’s daughter, Sam Wynden (Whitney Able), get back to the USA. Their attempt to leave is thwarted by the theft of Sam’s passport. Andrew then decides to accompany her on what turns out to be a precarious journey through the contaminated zone when their ‘safe’ ferry passage is cancelled.
The use of special effects is pretty impressive as the creatures are bathed in lots of black and red light which gives them a hallucinogenic aura that blends in nicely with the Mexican sunsets. They actually look like giant octopuses and in one scene exhibit an almost human rapport which gives the film its sense of beauty and realism. Sam and Andrew become more accustomed to the flare-ups happening around them and instead of being terrorized, they are hypnotized by the extra-terrestrials. They go on a journey that is both literal and emotional. The prospect of going back to their ‘normal’ lives seems unfathomable as they have, through their experience, gained a whole new outlook on life and the universe.
Edwards has created a monster movie, a love story and a road movie, which succeeds without the backing of a Hollywood budget. I would put Monsters on a par with the likes of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9. Both films could be said to be metaphors, dealing with issues of race and migration. I suspect we will be seeing many more films along these lines in the future. And, I predict that Edwards is a new director to watch out for.