Monsters (12A) * * *

Monsters (12A) Dir: Gareth Edwards, Starring Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able.

A probe, sent to investigate alien life in the solar system has crashed in Mexico. Pretty soon, the life forms have started to run amok across Central America. Andrew (McNairy) is a photographer working for a newspaper, getting photo's to detail the impact the 'creatures' have had around the 'Infected Zone'. Sam (Able) is the daughter of Andrews boss, and thus the pair are flung together as he is instructed to bring her back to America. After a series of unfortunate events, they are forced to travel across the Infected Zone together, and their feelings for each other grow, until they eventually get back to the safe, warm bosom of America.

This is a really good film, which instead of focusing on the US Military's fight against the aliens, follows the pair on their journey, and their developing relationship, with the backdrop of US planes and helicopters flying past every so often, or wreckage strewn about.

It's a great example of defamiliarization, showing people living their everyday lives, but with the constant reminder of the aliens behind giant walls and electric fences. It harks back to the good old days of cinema, where you don't see the monster, except for the odd blurred image, or glimpse through the mist or the dark, until the very end.

Edwards has made a very watchable film, but don't go thinking it will be anything like Skyline, or the latest offering of War of the Worlds. It's a lot subtler than that, and considering it was made with a shoestring budget, and the effects were all done by Edwards himself, and a two person cast, it's a good watch.