MONSTERS (2010) (***1/2)

Before seeing the film, I thought the title was weak. Now having seen it I think it's perfect. Those that have complained that this monster movie doesn't have enough monsters they're missing the point. Sci-fi has been used for decades to make social commentaries and this low budget flick has something to say.

A probe from Jupiter's moon Europa brings aliens to Earth. A section of Mexico right below the U.S. border has been ruled an infected zone where the aliens reside. Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy, IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS) is an American photojournalist working in Mexico. He is given the task of escorting Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able, UNEARTHED), the daughter of the head of the magazine, back to the U.S. When they miss the ferry, they are left with the option of being stranded in Mexico for months or pay thousands of dollars to be escorted illegally across the infected zone.

Their journey through the infected zone reminded me of the boat ride down the river in APOCALYSPE NOW. Crashed fighter planes are evidence of bombings conducted on the rarely seen aliens. Andrew's job was to get photographs of aliens attacking humans. Paintings on barrio walls depict giant squid like creatures clashing with tanks. At a stop, Andrew and Samantha hear the aliens in the jungle. Their armed guides tell them that they aliens are lurking everywhere. Once they reach the border they have a make their way across a giant wall that has been constructed to keep the aliens from invading the U.S.

One gets the idea of what the allegory is. But one can't quiet grasp the poetry of it without seeing the whole film in context. In the end, Andrew and Samantha gets to see the aliens first hand and it's quite shocking what they find.

But the film is just about monsters. It's about two Americans put into an alien reality. Their relationship is layered. At first he finds the whole idea of babysitting his boss' daughter demeaning. He meets her and discovers she not a spoiled brat like he imagined. But then things turn sour and he feels guilty. The shared experience of going through the infected zone brings them together, because they learn valuable lessons about what makes life worth living.

Gareth Edwards, a formed visual effects artist, wrote and directed the low budget film. On a budget under a million dollars, Edwards created a film with great production values and solid visual effects. The post apocalyptic landscapes in the film were captured opportunistically, traveling to locations hit by tornadoes. McNairy and Able were the only trained actors in the film; the rest were locals. So often a low budget film with a good script is undermined by bad acting. Edwards found real performers for his leads and it pays off. Every dollar spent is up on that screen.

Many have compared it to DISTRICT 9 because it's sci-fi with a message and both films were done outside the Hollywood system on low budgets for films of their nature. It's a comparison that doesn't hold up, especially when DISTRICT 9 is an action movie with a budget 30 times as large as MONSTERS. A better recent comparison would be the road movie SIN NOMBRE. In its message about human nature and our society, Edwards' film is actually more like a very good episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.