MONSTERS: TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION (Maple, 2010) D: Gareth Edwards, w/ Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNNNN Rating: NNN
It’s a remarkable achievement in low-budget filmmaking and watchable on its own terms, but Monsters is woefully under-supplied with monsters. The giant land squid from one of Jupiter’s moons look good when they show up, but the movie isn’t about them. It’s about a photojournalist (Scoot McNairy) who has to escort his boss’s daughter (Whitney Able) across the monster-infested zone in northern Mexico so she can get back to her fiancé. Mutual attraction ensues.
The movie works for several reasons. The locations are unique and lovely. The constant suggestion of monsters lurking nearby adds tension. McNairy and Able (a real-life couple) are strong individually and work well together. Director (also photographer, writer and CG effects creator) Gareth Edwards shot 100 hours of mostly unscripted footage and made the movie in the cutting room.
Edwards takes a radically different approach from most genre filmmakers. He’s articulate about his methods and philosophy in the extensive and enjoyable diary-style making-of docs.
EXTRAS Commentary, director and cast interviews, making-of, editing and effects docs. Widescreen. English audio. Spanish subtitles.
