Before graduating to Hollywood blockbusters Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, British director Gareth Edwards cut his teeth on low-budget science fiction film Monsters, his directorial feature debut, which he also wrote. Well-received both critically and commercially, it demonstrated Edwards' talent in economical fashion, focusing on characterisation and suspense and keeping the eponymous creatures largely off-screen.
Monsters is set in Northern Mexico, which has become infested with giant, tentacled aliens after a NASA space probe crashed there on its way back to space. Apparently unintelligent and content to stay put, the nevertheless lethal monsters have rendered the area a no-go area; thus, the film's drama derives from the need of the two leads to cross their quarantined territory. Said leads are Scoot Nairy and then-girlfriend (later wife and more recently ex-wife) Whitney Able, whose on screen chemistry is understandably palpable. Nairy plays Andrew Kaulder, a journalist tasked with escorting his boss's daughter Wynden (Able) back to the US and predictably circumstances conspire to make the "Infected Zone" their only viable route; equally predictably, they also fall in love.
Edwards spends the first half of the film focusing on characterisation, establishing the relationship between Kaulder and Wynden, whilst subtly establishing the film's fictional world and showing people going about their normal lives as much as possible whilst living in a world with monsters on the doorstep. The second half ramps up the danger as they set off on their journey, accompanied by some unsurprisingly doomed armed escorts, none of whom survive the journey. The monsters start to appear more in this latter half, although still not quite as much as one might expect: despite its short length, the film does drag at times and whilst Edwards' old-school approach to keeping the eponymous creatures largely unseen is admirable, the film could actually have benefitted from more on-screen monster action.
Despite this, Monsters remains a confident and impressive debut. Nairy and Able give excellent performances, whilst Edwards does a great deal with relatively money. Acting as his own cinematographer, he provides some nifty camerawork and uses close-ups, soft-focus shots and hand-held cameras to provide nerve-jangling glimpses, not just of the rarely-seen monsters, but also of piles of the bones of the dead. Shot on digital video cameras and edited on a laptop, it looks surprisingly slick and polished, and although the much-vaunted monsters are basically just giant, luminescent octopi, they still make an impression when finally seen in full, especially during the unexpectedly lovely scene of two of them mating, or dancing.
There are some nice touches, such as a Mexican child playing with a gasmask whilst watching a cartoon clearly inspired by the monsters, proving that humans can find a way to profit from anything. There's also a nasty flourish that leaves the happy ending for the two main characters ambiguous, as the film's final scene is actually chronologically the first and shows the rescue convoy being attacked by one of the creatures. The finishing touch is the effective and catchy soundtrack from electronic musician Jon Hopkins. Monsters isn't perfect, but it's considerably better than a large number of much more expensive science fiction and monster movies and shows what a filmmaker with natural talent and limited resources can achieve. It's an impressive debut that makes it unsurprising that Edwards was so quickly given established and lucrative franchises to play with.
Monsters is set in Northern Mexico, which has become infested with giant, tentacled aliens after a NASA space probe crashed there on its way back to space. Apparently unintelligent and content to stay put, the nevertheless lethal monsters have rendered the area a no-go area; thus, the film's drama derives from the need of the two leads to cross their quarantined territory. Said leads are Scoot Nairy and then-girlfriend (later wife and more recently ex-wife) Whitney Able, whose on screen chemistry is understandably palpable. Nairy plays Andrew Kaulder, a journalist tasked with escorting his boss's daughter Wynden (Able) back to the US and predictably circumstances conspire to make the "Infected Zone" their only viable route; equally predictably, they also fall in love.
Edwards spends the first half of the film focusing on characterisation, establishing the relationship between Kaulder and Wynden, whilst subtly establishing the film's fictional world and showing people going about their normal lives as much as possible whilst living in a world with monsters on the doorstep. The second half ramps up the danger as they set off on their journey, accompanied by some unsurprisingly doomed armed escorts, none of whom survive the journey. The monsters start to appear more in this latter half, although still not quite as much as one might expect: despite its short length, the film does drag at times and whilst Edwards' old-school approach to keeping the eponymous creatures largely unseen is admirable, the film could actually have benefitted from more on-screen monster action.
Despite this, Monsters remains a confident and impressive debut. Nairy and Able give excellent performances, whilst Edwards does a great deal with relatively money. Acting as his own cinematographer, he provides some nifty camerawork and uses close-ups, soft-focus shots and hand-held cameras to provide nerve-jangling glimpses, not just of the rarely-seen monsters, but also of piles of the bones of the dead. Shot on digital video cameras and edited on a laptop, it looks surprisingly slick and polished, and although the much-vaunted monsters are basically just giant, luminescent octopi, they still make an impression when finally seen in full, especially during the unexpectedly lovely scene of two of them mating, or dancing.
There are some nice touches, such as a Mexican child playing with a gasmask whilst watching a cartoon clearly inspired by the monsters, proving that humans can find a way to profit from anything. There's also a nasty flourish that leaves the happy ending for the two main characters ambiguous, as the film's final scene is actually chronologically the first and shows the rescue convoy being attacked by one of the creatures. The finishing touch is the effective and catchy soundtrack from electronic musician Jon Hopkins. Monsters isn't perfect, but it's considerably better than a large number of much more expensive science fiction and monster movies and shows what a filmmaker with natural talent and limited resources can achieve. It's an impressive debut that makes it unsurprising that Edwards was so quickly given established and lucrative franchises to play with.