Hello everybody and welcome to another 2020 movie review! Today I will be covering Love and Monsters, a movie that I admittedly knew very little about prior to it’s release on VOD except that it starred Dylan O’Brien who seemed to fighting a lot of monsters. I remember seeing at least one or two TV commercials for it, but it didn’t really catch my full attention until I started hearing a lot of good to great word of mouth from those who saw it and my interest levels increased quite a bit. It also looked like something I would enjoy so I was more than happy to check it out eventually. Needless to say when I did finally see it, even though I knew it got good to great notices from critics, I was honestly surprised at just how much I ended up loving it so much so that I consider it one of my favorite films of last year! So without further ado let’s go on a trip through a monster ridden Earth, with a young guy who is just trying to find his lost love.
The feature is set in a post apocalyptic Earth that saw an asteroid hit it leading to a chemical fall out mutating cold blooded animals into giant monsters. There remain a handful of survivors who live in underground bunkers with there being different colonies. We follow a member of one of them named Joel, the only one in the group who isn’t romantically paired, who was separated from his girlfriend, Aimee, back when the disaster happened 7 years earlier and he had promised that he would find her. He is still able to communicate a little bit with her via radio, but it’s not until after the colony is attacked by a giant ant, that he decides to re unite with Aimee by going on an 85 mile journey on foot to her colony. He may not be the toughest there is and he will face many obstacles along the way, but that doesn’t diminish his determination to re unite with his lost love.
Many people have made notable comparisons between this movie and Zombieland (I mean they are both quirky post apocalyptic stories with leads who are proverbial underdogs) and while yes there were times where it did remind me of the 2009 horror comedy, I was enjoying the proceedings so much that I honestly kind of forgot about those comparisons as the movie went on. This was just such a joy from beginning to end and what impressed me most was how the writers were able to balance so many different elements extremely well as it’s able to be a thrilling adventure with a lot of intense action while also being a strong romance at it’s core. It also succeeds at being very funny with some really funny comedy related to the monster infested world and the different people Joel encounters, but at the same time it can also be really touching at the same time. There are many moments that end up hitting really hard on an emotional level and in rather unexpected ways, like there’s this scene involving a robot that I was expecting to be a fun little reference to something earlier and then it ended up tugging at the heart strings becoming one of the most emotionally impactful scenes of any movie of last year in my eyes. There are so many little details that seem like they may not seem like big deals, but then they end up paying off in some way at a later point in time like that aforementioned scene and I just love little storytelling things like that and this movie does it very well. Also in terms of where Joel’s journey goes, well there actually a couple of plot turns that did end up surprising me in a good way, keeping me further engaged along with the other aspects I just mentioned. At the heart though is a strong theme regarding hope and making sure to maintain it. Even when things are at a low point and it is hard to imagine things getting better, it is important to maintain a strong sense of optimism to face the hard times and make things better which shows through quite beautifully especially in the final minutes. Stuff like this tends to resonate with me a lot and with everything that’s been going on this movie rang more true than ever, while also being a darn great movie.
As I mentioned a little earlier, the movie works as an exciting adventure in large part thanks to some really well done action sequences. There are plenty of them throughout that are full of tension and they all work very nicely as thanks to Michael Matthews’s direction and the strong work of the editors as well. I also like how they all make use of the environment and the way Joel goes about fighting these things and they actually do a great job at building his character more as we see him become more confident through fighting these monsters. Speaking of which the VFX on the monsters themselves, I found phenomenal as they never took me out of the movie and they each had detailed designs that showcased what a snail, or crab, or frog would look like in this world where all cold blooded animals are now mutated. Really fantastic job from the artists as their work shines through here. Also the production team and cinematographer, Lachlan Milne, did great work in capturing the post apocalyptic world as it feels vast yet abandoned with much creativity in terms of how this part of the world would look like in this situation and there are plenty of neat visual flourishes throughout including the opening animated sequence explaining how the world came to be like this. Funny enough prior to watching this I actually assumed this was always meant to go to VOD, but then I found out it was originally supposed to be a theatrical release and I can tell as it feels like a movie that made the most out of it’s $30 million budget.
When it comes to the characters and their respective performers this is yet another reason the movie works as well as it does specifically when it comes to Dylan O’Brien’s work as Joel. He’s one of my favorite young up and comers in the industry as he always manages to give a solid performance even when the material isn’t up to par. This time that material is fortunately very much up to par and what he does so well here is capturing Joel’s innocence and optimism in a world gone to chaos in an understated way that never came off as annoying but rather relatable and heartfelt. He’s just someone who despite all of the crazy stuff going on around him and how cynical everyone’s views on the world are, he never loses his sense of hope or kindness and while he can be naïve he learns to grow more confident with each monster fight and it leads to him fully stepping up to the plate, inspiring those around him. He gets one of the most satisfying arcs I’ve seen in quite some time and I loved following him through his journey to find his love (plus he also meets up with a really cute dog as a companion whom he calls Boy which is a highlight of the film). Speaking of which he and Jessica Henwick’s Aimee have some sweet chemistry with one another and it’s very easy to see why Joel wants to reunite with her even after being separated for so long. Henwick is very good playing Aimee and (slight spoilers here) I like how when she eventually reunites with Joel it doesn’t go quite according to what he was hoping for and the plot turn itself makes sense with Aimee having understandable reasons for not quite willing to get back together with him but it doesn’t come off in a way that makes either one unlikable which I appreciated. Two other stand outs here are Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt as Clyde and Minnow, two survival experts that Joel encounters and befriends on his expedition who serve as mentors to Joel who know just how to make it through the land alive. Both are really fun characters with their sarcastic sense of humor and they end up getting a good amount of depth as well. Everyone else in the cast does fine work as Joel’s fellow bunk mates, and the elderly colony that Aimee leads, while (spoilers here) Dan Ewing makes for an intimidating third act twist villain who was pretending, along with his crew, to help the elderly colony when in actuality they are there to steal supplies and they work in showing a darker side to the human side of this world and are in stark contrast to Joel’s way of thinking. Overall a solid set of characters played by good actors with O’Brien giving what I think is his best performance yet.
On the whole as you can tell, I really loved Love and Monsters and found it to be one of the most emotionally resonant films of last year. It’s story is full of heart, humor, and emotion and is extremely well told with powerful themes, exciting action, superb special effects, impressive craftsmanship, great characters, solid performances, and a compelling lead in Dylan O’Brien’s Joel. I am so glad this came up on my radar as it really is a film I was not expecting to enjoy as much as I did. If your interested in checking it out or like movies set in the apocalypse then I do highly recommend it as it is one of my favorite movies to play in this type of sandbox. Was very impressed by this one and I hope more people will discover it as it really left a great impression on me. Plus given the times this is just the type of movie to remind us to keep going forward and strive to make the world a better place.
Rating: A+
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