In a post-apocalyptic world dominated by mutated monsters, humanity has retreated underground.
One survivor is Joel (Dylan O'Brien). While the rest of his group have formed new relationships, Joel's one desire is to find his girlfriend Amiee (Jessica Henwick), who he was separated from years prior.
When he finally finds out where she is, Joel leaves the bunker to be with her once again.
Joel has one problem - he freezes every time he gets into trouble.
Will our hero find his inner mettle before the monsters get him?
SPOILER WARNING: This is not a sequel to Love & Basketball.
Netflix's original content is dubious at best. There is so much content, and such a focus on producing new content to drive subscriptions, that quality control has dipped.
I am dubious that this production model has legs but that is the world we are living in.
This is a long way of saying Love and Monsters is a surprisingly good movie.
It probably means something that this is a Netflix acquisition, not an original production - it was produced by Paramount but got caught by the lockdowns last year.
Boosted by a charming lead performance from Dylan O’Brien, Love & Monsters moves at a good clip, features some interesting world-building and has some good use of practical effects at certain points.
It also falls prey to some of the pitfalls of contemporary blockbuster movies:
For one, the film is a little too clean and well-lit.
And while I liked the use of animatronics and gore, the CGI is a little too plentiful - this movie has some good moments of suspense, but like most movies nowadays they blow it by throwing to money shots of the monsters in wide frame (fully lit).
Some of the humour falls into that easy sarcasm that the Marvel movies indulge in (a minor bad guy says “We’re going to die now” as a giant beast advances on him). O’Brien is kind of a saving Grace for the movie in this respect.
He was so good I did not mind that his emotional arc is kinda undercooked. I get it that his journey is about gaining the confidence and skills to live independently, but it felt like he needed a big failure to come back from, but that never really happens.
The character always pulls through - it is not detrimental to the viewing experience, but the way the movie sets up this character, he needs to come back from a dark place.
The supporting cast - including Michael Rooker as another traveller - are good, but the real standout is the dog who becomes our hero’s friend. I could have watched another hour of O’Brien and this dog wandering through the jungle.
Overall, Love and Monsters is a fun monster movie, and considerably better than most of the stuff on Netflix.
If you are new to this blog, I also co-host a podcast on James Bond, The James Bond Cocktail Hour.
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