Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America.That is the back-story that is covered in the opening titles. It sounds a bit familiar. Should George Romero sue? No need, as this probe causes giant monsters to form not raise the dead. Because of this, a good portion of Mexico is quarantined in order to prevent the spread of these aliens. Before you go thinking that this is some kind of Kaiju movie, the monsters are not really the main characters of the movie. They provide the backdrop for the story. It is the story two people who are attempting to get from Mexico to the United States. At the beginning they would rather be doing something else. Nonetheless they are plotted to travel together. It is basically the plot of The African Queen. Although Whitney Able looks way better than Katharine Hepburn did in The African Queen.
You have a reluctant male character, a photographer in Monster's case, who is hired to bring someone back though beautiful yet dangerous territory. If you are expecting the giant monsters to rampage through a major city, you are not going to get that. It is mostly a story about relationships. A love story wrapped up in Kaiju clothing. It is wonderfully shot. The effects are really good. The monster is menacing but not too complicated. The effects help aid the story rather than being the sole purpose for the movie. It was well done all around, it just did not appeal to me too much. A fine movie, but not gripping. I liked that it left a lot of things ambiguous. That helped, but it was still a love story. In the NetFix style review I give it three stars out of five. The more specific and spoilery review after the jump.
Sam -- played by Whitney Able -- was not as fish out of water as Katharine Hepburn. If she were more of a spoiled child, as they should have gone with, it would help the movie a bunch. It would also fill in one of the gaping plot holes.
The photographer, Andrew -- played by Scoot McNairy -- should have been more capable. He did not even speak Spanish. This made Sam appear plenty capable to take care of herself, and this was a bit of a detriment to the movie. At least, they should have let her appear more helpless at the beginning to make this journey more compelling.
Plot hole number 1 is a result of this characterization. If Sam was helpless -- at least in appearance -- it would make sense that Andrew would carry all of the vital things like tickets and passports, etc. However, Sam was traveling alone in a country where she spoke the language. Thus, there was no reason for Andrew to carry her passport. Thus, when the woman that Andrew sleeps with robs him and makes Sam miss the ferry the impact is lost by the fact that he should not have been carrying her passport in the first place. Make this a thing! It is a major reason they have to take the dangerous way. It should not be glossed over.
Another problem is they are traveling through the quarantined zone and they hear these odd sounds. Instead of freaking out, they say "What is that sound?" You think those sounds might be the aliens? That would be my first thought as I was traveling through the zone where the aliens live. I would have been freaking out rather than standing there out in the open with my mouth agape.
Plot hole number two is standard fare. Sam and Andrew have hired a group who live in the quarantine zone and help people get into the US. They carry guns, and this surprises Sam and Andrew. (Small thing). However, the group arouses in the middle of the night to move. They get in their trucks and go. Suddenly they stop and the lead truck is lifted and smashed. Sam and Andrew are safe. They are told to stay in the truck as the experienced guides leave. Naturally, they are all gone when the sunrises, but Sam and Andrew are fine. A large group of experienced guides are wiped out, but the naive newcomers escape unharmed. Blahrg! How did those soldiers survive that long if they were so stupid? Oh yeah, it was just an excuse to get our duo to continue on on foot. This could have been handled in several better ways.
They finally make it across the quarantine fence and we discover that the aliens have also made it across. We also discover that this is a story about relationships as we see two aliens "doing it." At least, that is what I assume we saw. Our pair of travelers watch as the aliens get it on, but photographer guy does not fret once about not taking a picture of it. The picture of a lifetime -- and he misses it. Instead our couple kiss -- like you do when you see aliens making love -- and then are taken away by the military.
Much of the story is left to the imagination of the reader. Why was Sam in Mexico? -- not really explored. Is Andrew married? -- only alluded to. We do not know for sure. What will happen next with our couple? Who knows! It is one of the things that I liked about the movie, but some people will not like that.
The effects were great. They aid in the story rather than be the excuse to not have a story. That is also something I liked about the movie. Despite its problems, the movie was well done. Although, it could have been zombies, robots, etc that caused quarantine zone. Like I said, this was an attempt to tell the story of The African Queen with giant monsters instead of the untamed Amazon. Some character tweaks could have improved it, but only marginally.
The problem with doing a cross-genre movie is that most of the time you alienate the lovers of both genres. While there is the potential of drawing both genres together, the movie has to be exceptional to do that. This movie is not it. This is how this movie fails. Everything works for the most part -- except the audience. Those who want to see a giant monster destroy a major city -- will not get that. Those that want a story about relationships would never see a movie with a giant monster in it.
Other than the plot holes above, I have no complaints about the movie. However, the characters needed to be more obnoxious. Sam needed to be more spoiled brat running away from her fiance. She needed to be more reluctant to return home, and thus Andrew was needed to drag her back. Andrew needed to be more disinterested in Sam, so the need to escort her was more distasteful. He needed to be more reluctant. Sam being beautiful makes this reluctance absurd unless she is unpleasant -- which she is not. These little changes would have made the movie a bit better. However, it would not solve the problem that this is a chick-flick with monsters.
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