Monsters: A Love Story?

Monsters (2010) was made for next to nothing.. The concept is that it's a giant monster movie that's not really a giant monster movie. The execution, though, doesn't live up to the idea.

The basic premise is that alien creatures have infected parts of the Mexican US border. The area is fenced off and crossing it is dangerous. The US military often bombs the area when these giant creatures get restless. The story is about a photojournalist who is asked to get his boss's daughter out of Mexico. Along the way, they fall in love. I'm not sure you would really even get that they fall in love from watching the movie though. Or if you did get it, you probably wouldn't care. The glaring problem with this movie is that it's not supposed to be a monster movie, but a relationship movie set in a monster world, yet, the relationship is just not there. So, what you're left with is a monster movie where nothing happens.

Overall, the effects are good. There are a few scenes where the characters are screaming "Look at that! What was that!?" leaving you wondering the same thing because the shots of what they are supposed to be reacting to are just too dark to make anything out. If you strain, you might see a corner of a tentacle just above the surface of the water, but by then the shock is completely worn out. It's a shame, because the few scenes where you do see the monsters, the designs are interesting and the effects are very well done.

The concept of this movie could have been great. A relationship is basically about seeing a person in a new light. The road is dangerous and scary, yet mysterious. You want to know more. The world can sometimes seem to be against you as you fall in love. Eventually, all the things that you found scary about the other person and love in general, reveal themselves to be very beautiful. All these things should be paralleled in the relationship and the monsters in this movie and you get the sense that the filmmakers thought that's what they were doing. Unfortunately, the monsters had a much more believable courtship than the actors. I give it 2 out of 5 tentacles, and that's mostly for the effort.