Movie review: Monsters

A synopsis of the plot: The story is set six years after NASA discovers the possibility of alien life within our solar system and as a result launches a probe to collect samples. The probe crashes upon re-entry over Central America and thereafter, new life form begins to appear resulting in half of Mexico and a small part of the US being quarantined as an 'Infected Zone'. The American and Mexican military struggle to contain these new life forms. A young US photo journalist agrees to escort his bosses daughter home through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border. Much of the film is focussed on this journey home.

What starts with a good novel idea and excellent scene setting, progresses very little with a very small number of action scenes and a preoccupation with the self interested perspective of the two main characters (the journalist and his companion, the bosses' daughter). Much of the film is spent as these two contemplate their lives when they return to the US and only occasionally is their attention drawn to the dangerous predicament in which they find themselves. In many respects the dialogue resembles 'Dumb and Dumber' meets 'Ferris Buellers Day Off'. The cgi special effects are deftly and sparingly used to good effect however the lack of action events in suspenseful moments undermines the dramatic impact of the film.