“Love and Monsters” Movie Review by Josh Davis
October 25, 2020 12:35 pm |
“Love and Monsters” feels like a movie that could have been a hit in theaters, were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic that’s closed or limited movie houses worldwide.
Perhaps best described as “Spielbergian,” the film recalls much of the action and adventure of blockbusters like “Indiana Jones,” “Jurassic Park” and “War of the Worlds.”
Dylan O’Brien (“The Maze Runner”) stars as Joel, a young man who was near ground zero when a literal apocalypse happened seven years ago. Ninety five percent of humanity was wiped out, and the fallout created an army of monsters across the globe, as tiny insects and other crawly creatures were grown huge and mutated.
Mankind now lives underground in a series of “colonies,” only going out into the surface world occasionally to scavenge for food and supplies.
Joel lives with a bunch of people his own age, twenty-somethings in a post-apocalyptic world. They couple up and go on missions, while he stays behind and cooks and occasionally fixes a radio, or sketches in a notebook.
When something attacks the colony, we learn why Joel isn’t on the raiding parties: he freezes at the first sign of danger. Still, he wants to contribute, grabs a crossbow and heads toward some unknown beast — only to choke when the moment comes.
From the start, the movie is full of Spielberg movie tropes, from lens flares, to an end-of-the-world mythology and strange creatures, and a band of brave heroes, with a central character facing long, tough odds. Not that that’s a bad thing. Spielberg invented the modern blockbuster adventure movie and there’s no shame in borrowing from the master.
O’Brien is great in the lead, totally believable as a young man thrown into a terrible situation and forced to survive. He and the movie balance in just enough comic relief to break up the tenser scenes and make this a fun ride.
Joel spends much of his time using an old radio to search for a lost flame, Aimee (Jessica Henwick, the best part of “Iron Fist”). When he finds out that she’s living in another colony, he decides to make the seven-day journey to reunite with her.
His friends are nervous, but rooting for him. They give him supplies and some last-minute tips, and off he goes into the deadly surface world.
Soon enough, “Love and Monsters” lives up to its name, and we’re introduced to variety of weird, slimy, giant creatures that live above and below ground, and want nothing more than to eat you.
In his first encounter, Joel is saved by a stray dog named “Boy,” and he later teams with two other travelers, Clyde (Michael Rooker from “Guardians of the Galaxy”) and Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt, young Gamora in “Avengers: Infinity War”). Minnow helps Joel learn how to handle a crossbow, while Clyde teaches Joel about the rules of this new world, not unlike a slightly kinder version of Woody Harrelson’s grizzled character in “Zombieland.”
Clyde and Minnow eventually head north for the prospect of a safer colony in the mountains, while Joel continues west to try and find Aimee.
As an audience, we’re treated to plenty of sweeping, lush scenery in this overgrown world being taken back by mutant nature. In nearly every corner, there are enormous husks of insect hives and larva, along with abandoned homes and hollowed out buildings.
Joel keeps an illustrated journal of what he sees, writing down things like the strengths and weaknesses of each new monster. It’s a cool little nod to nerd culture.
And the monsters themselves are more fun and creepy than nightmarish. As grim as things are, they’re never so grim tonally that watching the movie becomes a chore.
Eventually, Joel does find Aimee, but there’s yet another obstacle waiting for him and a big choice that he must face. We see him learn and grow as a character, and everything that happened before comes back around in a satisfying way. There’s even possible room for a sequel — if such a thing can still exist outside of superheroes and “Star Wars.”
“Love and Monsters,” at it’s core, is a throwback action/adventure movie built for families and big crowds in movie theaters. It’s a shame that the world in 2020 will largely have to watch this at home, but it’s still a fun, funny, exciting and even heartwarming film about the end of the world, in a year when that notion no longer seems so far fetched.
PCL Rating: High Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
Tags: love and monsters film, Love and Monsters movie 2020, pop culture leftovers
Categorised in: Movie Reviews
This post was written by Leftover Brian
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