Back home

Monsters

1722 votes

Producing House

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. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 2010-06-18

Runtime: 94 mins

Director: Gareth Edwards

Writer: Gareth Edwards

Spoken language: Español, English

Genres: Drama, Thriller, Science Fiction

Original title: Monsters

Production Companies: Vertigo Films, Protagonist Pictures

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Reviews

G

Geronimo1967
The more sci-fi I watch the more I pray that it isn’t the Americans who discover the potential for extraterrestrial life! This time, NASA sends a probe to collect data from something they think might bear fruit in outer space but they manage to cock up the re-entry of their spacecraft and reduce great swathes of Mexico to the status of a quarantine zone. On the wrong side of this restricted area is hardened photo-journalist “Kaulder” (Scoot McNairy) who instead of getting some snaps of the reason for this new ultra-high security, ends up saddled with “Sam” (Whitney Able) who just happens to be the stranded daughter of his US paymaster. With the infrastructure in tatters and the locals in survival mode, it’s not going to be easy to get them home - especially as the prices are going through the roof and he has a penchant for hookers and getting robbed. It’s this last activity that condemns them both into the hands of the people smugglers and the local, somewhat superstitious at times, tribespeople - but can they make it? Now, first things first, there are virtually no monsters here and it’s a very slowly paced affair - so if you are looking for a sort of alien version of “Jurassic Park” then this won’t be for you. What it does manage, though, on what’s obviously not much more of a budget than these characters had to escape, is take us through a series of effectively photographed and perilous scenarios using the jungle, the rivers, some unscrupulous characters and a solid effort from the audio department to create quite an accumulative sense of menace. There’s a decent degree of chemistry between Able and McNairy, especially as if I’d been her character I’d probably have just thrown “Kaulder” to the crocodiles on more than one occasion! There’s no denying that it does sort of peter out, and the last twenty minutes are not anything to write home about, but if you let your own imagination work alongside that of auteur Gareth Edwards and ignore some of the banal dialogue, then it’s not an half bad thriller that merits a watch.
2025-02-15

n

narrator56
I enjoyed this film. There, I said it. I have watched it twice and will again at a future time. I see it more as suspense rather than as an action thriller, the difference Hitchcock explained between a bomb going off and the tension of wondering if it is going to go off. A bulging muscled hero or a bulging cleavaged heroine wouldn't have improved it in my eyes. This is a different sort of alien invasion movie. In fact, it almost feels to me like the invaders dropped in on the planet like drunken tourists and now find they aren't able to fit in or leave but are instead stuck in one bar fight after another. Hmm, okay, that metaphor doesn't quite work, but it feels to me that they aren't here to conquer but rather to try to live their lives. I liked how the connection between the two leads gradually grew stronger after what appeared to be dislike, or at least disinterest. And I have to wonder if the title of the film shares its obvious meaning with a shadow allusion to the monsters within us. I read somewhere that there is no way monsters built like these could walk upright as they are shown doing. But - they are. I can overlook a lapse in science when the movie is good. I am not sure I believe multiple universes Are possible, but a lot of renown physicists do, so there is a fine line between speculative friction and unrealistic plots. What I am saying is that science isn’t my first priority in science fiction. I really enjoy time travel stories, even though most of them don’t bother with making time travel seem feasible. So yes, I liked this film, and you can too if you let yourself
2020-04-05

t

tanty
Story that is so down to earth in spite of talking about alien creatures that you think it could really happen ... only, it is not thrilling and gets boring at some point. The two main characters, though, are very well played by McNairy and Able.
2014-03-06

Recommendations

Resident Evil
3.3

Resident Evil

2002-03-15

When a virus leaks from a top-secret facility, turning all resident researchers into ravenous zombie

Resident Evil: Apocalypse
3.2

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

2004-09-10

As the city is locked down under quarantine, Alice finds out that the people that died from the prev

Apocalypto
3.8

Apocalypto

2006-12-07

Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent inva

The Way of the Gun
3.2

The Way of the Gun

2000-09-08

Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding

The Island
3.3

The Island

2005-07-21

In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of

The Net
3

The Net

1995-07-28

Angela Bennett is a freelance computer systems analyst who tracks down software viruses. At night sh

Ray
3.7

Ray

2004-10-29

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by

Godzilla Raids Again
3

Godzilla Raids Again

1955-04-24

Two fishing scout pilots make a horrifying discovery when they encounter a second Godzilla alongside

Pureza
3.7

Pureza

2022-05-19

"Pureza" tells a story of a mother, Pureza, who goes in search of her son, Abel, disappeared after l

The Man Who Fell to Earth
3.2

The Man Who Fell to Earth

1976-03-18

Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. A

Breathless
2.9

Breathless

1983-05-13

Jesse, a small-time criminal, high-tails it to Los Angeles to rendezvous with a French exchange stud

The Thing
4

The Thing

1982-06-25

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its

Escape from New York
3.5

Escape from New York

1981-05-23

In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison

The Host
3.5

The Host

2006-07-27

A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han Rive

Bridge to Terabithia
3.7

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-02-15

Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. So he's very upset when newc

Frida
3.7

Frida

2002-08-29

A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous

Crazy Lizard
3.1

Crazy Lizard

2024-03-27

A young man climbs into the mountains to pick up a meteorite that has fallen there and is killed by

Rakka
3.5

Rakka

2017-06-14

A story of broken humanity following the invasion of a technologically superior alien species. Bleak

Hostile
2.9

Hostile

2018-03-08

Juliette, a lone survivor of an apocalyptic era, fights to survive against hunger, thirst, a broken

Y Tu Mamá También
3.7

Y Tu Mamá También

2001-06-08

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or