Monsters: Some would classify this as a “horror” movie, I feel it’s straight sci-fi. Six years in the future, alien life piggy-backed down on a NASA deep-space probe and has been slowly taking over more and more of Central America (mostly a big chunk of Mexico). An American photographer, Andrew, is tasked by his boss with escorting his daughter Samantha out of Mexico before the aliens enter their ‘migration season” at which point, they will be trapped for an additional six months. Mexico, which hasn’t been a great place to bushwhack through since…EVER, is made even more dangerous by giant octopus-like aliens on land and in the water, as Andrew and Samantha try to get to the border of the United States and relative safety, where a giant wall is supposed to contain the aliens. All does not go as planned. It’s not an alien invasion flick - by the time the film starts, the aliens have been here for years and humanity is adapting in various ways. It’s “Still Life with Aliens“, with enough recognizable elements to be the day after tomorrow, but still also a little off-kilter, a little skewed with what is now “normal“. With a budget of under $500,000 and only two lead actors (both relative unknowns), first-time feature director Gareth Edwards has managed to create a solid little film here. Sure, the budget was limiting, but it still looks better than dozens of movies I’ve seen with bigger budgets (Edwards did the effects shots himself). This film has more in common with alien sci-fi films like “District 9”, about grappling with who we are and what we don’t understand, and avoids being a cartoony mess like “Independence Day” or “Mars Attack” where it‘s all about body count. At right around 90 minutes, it’s not a seat-of-the-pants thriller, but I don’t see that as a negative. Woodchuck sez, “Worth a look.”
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