Love And Monsters

 This review may contain spoilers!

This was a charming blockbuster that really defied expectations. I would give Love And Monsters a 7/10.

Love and monsters is a post-apocalyptic coming of age film in which heartsick Joel decides to leave the bunker he has been surviving in to be reunited with his former girlfriend from before the end of the world. The catch? He has to survive 80 miles of monster-infested terrain with little to no survival experience. This movie had every opportunity to be a corny mess, to make a feature that slogged a lead through a journey towards 'getting the girl'. But it's far more interesting than I could have ever expected. The main character, Joel, has picked up minor skills in his time underground but is by no means a survivor. He feels like he is unable to contribute to his community and yearns to belong; most notably he misses life before the Earth was overrun and so endeavours to reclaim his life by reuniting with his former girlfriend. Joel is really engaging as a lead because he has a strong sense of humour and he lends a lot of his inner thoughts to the audience via narration in the style of letters to his former girlfriend, Aimee. The journey Joel goes through sees him overcome paralysing fear, develop survival skills, recognise the community he has built around him at his home bunker and confront the grief he feels over the death of his parents. It's a very light-hearted take on the apocalypse and a character journey that I think is extremely worth watching. The cinematography is really well-constructed blockbuster, you feel constantly in motion with the main characters while expansive sets or locations are framed gorgeously. The cinema tography for the film errs on the generic side but it really has a way of lifting your spirits or placing you in the dangerous scenarios; while I felt the soundtrack was a fun blend of thematic choices.

 

Jessica Henwick, who played Aimee, is really charismatic both as O'Brien's former onscreen girlfriend and the leader of her colony; Henwick has this flinty edge to her that makes her believable as a strong leader and capable defender. Michael Rooker, who played Clyde, delivers strongly on the gruff and supremely apt survivor you would expect from him; but Rooker's ability to unveil a gentle and nurturing father figure in this film was something I felt gave this feature a lot of heart. Ariana Greenblatt, who played Minnow, is one of the best young performers up and coming at the moment; her ability to come across as utterly fearless while entirely endearing was a big source of charm for this feature.

However, the best performance came from Dylan O'Brien, who played Joel. This is a film that relies strongly upon its main protagonist and that position is in really safe hands with O'Brien. We knew that this particular performer can barrel through leading a high-octane action blockbuster without breaking a sweat, the Maze Runner trilogy being the best example of this. This film we get to see O'Brien take a cowardly, meek role to a place of confidence and determination. Watching Joel evolve as a person and learn to survive and make meaningful connections with others is a genuine strength for this film. I felt like the quick wit and humorous nature of O'Brien's delivery makes this role immediately quite charismatic. This film also has a significant amount of narration for a blockbuster and I felt O'Brien managed to give an aspect of the film, that could've otherwise grown dull, a really engaging performance.

 

Love And Monsters has a lot of heart but sometimes it feels like it's a story at war with itself. Within the film you get the basic story of boy loves girl, boy loses girl because of the apocalypse happening, boy goes to reunite with girl upon reconnecting. So it's not so surprising when the film starts going down pathways like Aimee rejecting Joel at first, or Joel sulking about this, the pair reuniting after Joel manages to save Aimee's colony in a macho heroic way. There's a lot of subversion from some of the classic Hollywood tropes but sometimes you feel like the story was roughshod rewritten to conceal a story that isn't so likeable underneath. There are moments where Joel becomes a whiny, self-centred protagonist and these don't really ring true with the rest of the film. The entire third act is a good example of the film struggling with itself, pulling between an old form of storytelling and a more modern one. The special effects for the feature aren't always the best, sometimes changing significantly between scenes and often littered with shots that allow the film-makers to cut around having to work in the visual effect for some scenes. 

Dan Ewing, who played Cap, was a pretty generic and disappointing antagonist for the third act of the film; Ewing played up to his role's betrayal - suddenly becoming quite merciless and harsh for the sake of villainy as opposed to being in line with his role. Melanie Zanetti, who voiced Mav1s, was this overl sweet artificial role that reall grated with the tone of the film; Zanetti's voice work pushed the limits of what I was willing to accept within the film and ultimately the inclusion of Mav1s seemed a little off-key.