Monsters (2010)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Love and 'Monsters'

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

The director of the new Godzilla, Gareth Edwards, made this earlier film for a fraction of the budget, but with some of the same touches. In Monsters (2010), a jaded journalist, Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) is ordered to escort his boss's pretty daughter, Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able) home, passing through a mysterious "infected" zone in Mexico.

It's a road movie romance, like an updated version of It Happened One Night, except that it features giant alien monsters. Edwards focuses squarely on the characters and the weirdness is sometimes only barely glimpsed or suggested, at least until the incredible ending. It may have too much talk for monster fans, but viewers looking for something more thoughtful will enjoy it.