Monsters (2010)

Scoot McNairy

Watch the Monsters trailer

Writer: Gareth Edwards (story), the cast (diologue)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Notable Actors: Scoot McNairy, unnamed ferry-ticket seller

Monsters was a film which, I confess, for a majority of it…held half my attention. Every now and then I’d look up from the cinema magazine I was casually flicking through and I’d catch something which stole my breath, such as the casual yet incredibly effective CGI or the abilities of the non-actors in the cast.

That’s what this was – a film full of actors who weren’t. That concept alone, for a film shown in mainstream cinemas, is incredible. The performances even more so. The entire thing couldn’t have been more naturalistic if Mike Leigh had been at the helm.

But Mike Leigh wouldn’t make a film like this. Leigh makes films about the normal, and here, the normal is the terrifying. The parallels for reality, for politics and terrorism, are astounding. But forget all of that, forget every last pore. This sort of story could only come from youth, from both the inexperience and joys of it. From the free will and determinism; straight through the bar glass from one human spirit to another.

It can’t be expressed how normal this society is. It can’t be expressed how monsters are just something that walk among us; just another entity; just another war. That normality which confirms casual attention is the exact same which demands it in quick bursts which make things far scarier than they would be if you were completely enraptured. This way it permeates into your normality. This way things are even scarier.

You know, I spent a majority of this film trying to like the lead characters. Took me a damn long while ‘til I realised that wasn’t the point. They were a symbol, not a deformity. That made the same moronic mistakes we all would. Even if one was a rich girl and the other stupid enough to abandon their direly needed source of warmth to a carcass. Why? Because this made things scarier. This proved humanity.

Any other film would have the leads be smart, would have them be ruthless. But this isn’t a film. This is true life; just another eschewed version of it. And in that final scene, when a moment comes similar to Christmas of 1914, when you realise being human is not a necessity for humanity…that’s when things really blow you away. That’s when it captures your complete attention. That’s when it ends, and your Machiavellian traits end to.