Seen on Netflix: A Review of Love and Monsters

 directed by Michael Matthews

writteny by Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson

Like News of the World, this isn't a Netflix film but one produced by a "traditional" studio (in this case Paramount Pictures) which received a limited release last year but which, due to the pandemic, mainly saw release through streaming platforms, which in our territory means Netflix. 

Love and Monsters is yet another apocalypse movie, albeit this time with a comedic twist and with a slightly different take on the subject; this time humans haven't been overrun by a zombie plague but have, instead, been decimated to the point of near annihilation by cold-blooded creatures like reptiles, amphibians and insects of every size and shape, all of which have mutated into giants as a result of chemical fallout from missiles that were  fired at an asteroid which almost destroyed the Earth.

Joel Dawson (Dylan O'Brien, no stranger to apocalyptic wastelands) has, following this cataclysmic event in which giant frogs, lizards and insects basically took over the world and drove humans underground, lived in an underground bunker in the last seven years with his "colony" a group of strapping young men and women---all of whom have managed to romantically couple, leaving him the odd-man out. On top of this, the trauma of losing his parents has left Joel prone to freezing in the face of peril, which means that rather than go out and fight the monsters with his fellow survivors, he's been the designated cook for seven years.

Through all of this, though, one thought keeps him going: the memory of his girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick) from whom he was separated just before the world as he knew it ended and whom he has finally reconnected with after years of searching for her on the radio. When a catastrophic invasion by a giant ant results in the death of one of his fellow colony members, Joel realizes he doesn't want to die alone, and so against everyone's advice, he takes a backpack, a makeshift crossbow and heads for Amy's colony, an 85-mile, seven-day trek across giant-monster-infested territory.  Along the way, he makes friends with a dog named Boy, and a tough-as-nails pair of survivors in fifty/sixtysomething Clyde (Michael Rooker) and eight-year-old Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt). Will he make it to Aimee...or even survive?

As apocalyptic films go, this one is more of a Shaun of the Dead than a Dawn of the Dead, so even though it borrows heavily from a lot of the really grim movies in the genre, like I Am Legend which also featured a character traveling with a dog, and The Mist, which also featured horrific giant monsters instead of the usual zombies, to name but a few, it manages a comedic tone that actually works in spite of the traditionally dark setting. It's an ultimately inconsequential movie, but that may be exactly what we need in times like these. 

It helps that O'Brien successfully makes the transition from his action-drama days of The Maze Runner trilogy to action-comedy.  His awkward dork Joel is a pretty big departure from his highly-capable lead Thomas from the older films, but O'Brien sells the character well. It also helps that he has a good supporting cast to play off of, particularly Rooker, Greenblatt (whom many viewers may recognize as young Gamora from Avengers: Infinity War) and Dodge, the supremely expressive dog who plays Boy. 

It also helps that, even on a shoestring budget of USD30 million, the filmmakers have managed to create a film that is wonderfully atmospheric, with the wilds of Australia's Gold Coast and other locations standing in for the wastelands of California.  So effective is the art direction in terms of establishing the post-apocalyptic vibe that even though the computer-generated monsters are relatively few and far between, each appearance makes an impact.  It's also worth noting that even in spite of a relatively small budget, the film features some genuinely impressive computer-generated, super-sized critters to terrorize our hero.

It's hardly a compelling commentary on the human condition and certainly not meant to be a life-changing experience, notwithstanding a slightly hokey speech at around the end of the film, but as movies to enjoy in the midst of the pandemic go, it feels like just what the doctor ordered.

8.5/10