Monsters (R)
Dread Central (Blu-ray/DVD); IMDb; Magnet Releasing; Rotten Tomatoes; Templeton Gate; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Google Play; Hulu; iTunes; Vudu; YouTube

This came out in 2010, and I'm fairly sure I must have read positive things about it, so I wanted to see it eventually. I didn't get around to it until 2018, when I picked up a DVD at Kmart for just a dollar. Definitely a good deal. Anyway, it's considered a science fiction horror movie, though it's actually pretty light on both those elements. Considering its low budget, I thought about putting my review under "B-movies," but I felt that it deserved better than that. So I chose to put it under "giant monsters." Even though we don't see much of them, either.

It starts out with some onscreen text explaining about NASA having found evidence of life somewhere in our solar system six years earlier, and sending out a probe to collect samples, which later crashed in Mexico, during reentry. Subsequently, giant monsters started showing up, and I guess like half of Mexico became a quarantined zone. There's also a giant wall along the border between Mexico and the U.S., which, watching the movie now, I couldn't help but think Trump would like, for reasons having nothing to do with monsters. (Though honestly, I think he'd be perfectly happy to have an alien invasion, if he could use it to justify his damned wall.) Of course, trying to keep monsters out with a wall reminded me of Pacific Rim, though that came out a few years after this (and had an immensely bigger budget and more publicity). Anyway, after we're informed of the backstory, we see some military folks driving along one night, when suddenly a monster attacks.

The next day (or what seems to be the next day), a man named Andrew Kaulder is trying to find a woman named Samantha Wynden, who had apparently been injured in the monster attack. At first, I assumed he was her husband or boyfriend or something, but it turns out he's a complete stranger. He's a photojournalist who works for a major news organization or something like that, which is owned by Sam's father. Andrew had just been sent to make sure she was alright, because he happened to be in the area. But a bit later, his employer tells him he's expected to escort Sam to the coast, so she can return home to the U.S. He doesn't really want to do this, but he ends up doing it anyway. It shouldn't have been too complicated... but of course complications soon arise. Problem after problem makes their journey to the coast increasingly difficult, and more perilous. But the more time they spend together, the more they get to know and like each other.

Well... I don't want to give away any more details, really. Like I said, we don't see much of the monsters, but when we do, I think they look pretty cool. And scary. But there's one scene near the end that makes it seem like they're not really monsters, after all. (And maybe it's humans who are the monsters, which is a familiar enough trope.) In fact, the scene reminded me a lot of the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint." And after that... something happens that made me think, probably for less than half a minute, that the very end of the movie was actually the very beginning of the movie. But I quickly abandoned that idea. Then, when I started reading a few websites for links to put in my review, I found that other people had said that is what was going on. And I sort of doubted it, but after some thought I realized it must have been what was going on.

So anyway, um... I liked the effects. I thought the acting was decent. The characters were okay. The story was okay. The movie, overall, was okay. I liked it, but I couldn't really love it. Not as science fiction, not as horror, not as a potential romantic story, or anything. I'm really glad to have finally seen it, and I felt it was time well spent. But it's not something I'd likely feel any great interest in watching again.

There is a sequel, which was poorly received, so I probably have no interest in seeing that even once.