Some Sci-Fi movies are about ideas and the science of the future. Some, or rather most of them are about high-tech action based in the future. This movie is about the the pursuit of discovery, and how far can a team of humans go, in order to make that discovery...
I am a sucker for Sci-Fi movies. The ideas and the science in them appeal to me. While trawling through the net for prospective Sci-Fi movies of this year, the name "Europa Report" caught my attention. The title itself sounded so appealing. I have always been fascinated by Europa. With its shiny white surface covered with red patches and what looks like scratch marks, I find it most intriguing among the four famous "Galilean Moons" of Jupiter (so named because they were first discovered by Galileo). So I dived in without even looking up its trailer...
When the movie started, I was a bit disappointed to know that it used the Found Footage format, making use of footage from various stationary and hand-held cameras to tell the story. I have seen one found footage Sci-Fi movie before - Apollo 18, and I was a bit disappointed by it. No doubt it had its share of thrills and suspense, which are a hallmark of any good Found Footage movie. But the basic premise, the idea behind the story did not appeal to me at all. Plus, Sci-Fi movies are a lot about eye-candy - VFX, beautiful outer-space locales, a spanning panorama of stars, fancy space-ships, the works... And one can't expect good VFX in the found footage format because of the stationary camera and its comparatively mediocre ability to capture good visuals.
But by the time the movie ended, it left me feeling mildly enthralled. The movie's story had managed to invoke in me the awe and wonder I had felt as a youngster, every time I would let my imagination soar at the prospect of travelling through space, wondered what we would find out there...
The movie does not weigh itself down with an over-ambitious scientific idea. Its premise is quite simple. A team of six astronauts embark on a voyage through interplanetary space to Europa - one of the moons of Jupiter. Their mission: to search for signs of life under Europa's crust of ice.
The mission is being sponsored and executed by Europa Ventures, a private firm. For a welcome change, NASA is nowhere involved - its a privately funded mission. The footage from the various cameras on board the spaceship are being broadcast back to earth.
The first half depicts their journey through the vast chasm of space that lies between the planets. The movie captures well the enthusiasm of the crew. And its infectious. After all, they are going farther than any Man has ever gone before. But like any ground-breaking voyages, this one is full of perils. The first disaster strikes, when halfway through, they loose all communications. While trying to repair the comm modules, one of the crew members is lost. All the exhilaration of the unique voyage suddenly dies out. The harsh reality of the perilous nature of the voyage suddenly dawns upon them all. But this will not be the last disaster they face... The stakes are high, for, if successful, they believe that their discovery could prove to be a most profound one in Human history. So they press on. How the crew members face one difficulty after another, and how they press on against all odds, and the sacrifices they make in pursuit of their discovery, is what fuels the rest of the story.
The found footage format does put a damper on what could have been a very good movie experience. But there are moments in the movie which not only justify the found footage format, but actually take advantage of it to give an entertaining movie experience. For example, this is one of the very few rare Sci-Fi movies which explains and portrays the use of centrifugal force to generate artificial gravity in zero-G. Its a nice little scene where a guy is shooting a personal tour of the ship for his kid. The guy hands the camera to his colleague, and then climbs the stairs from the ground (which is the inner surface of the rotating ship) towards its center of the ship, and as he ascends, he begins to float. And while he floats, we can see beyond (or above?) him, another astronaut descending (going upwards in reverse) at the opposite end of the ship.
There are moments when the found footage format does get on the nerves though. And it doesn't help that during the first half, the story keeps toggling to and fro between flash-back and flash-forward, giving us a sneak-peek of impending disaster. It gets a bit confusing at times. One has to concentrate on the timeline displayed in months : days : hours format every time the story switches back or forward in time.
If you have seen the movie Mission to Mars, then you will recognize the similarity of the plots. To be frank, Mission to Mars scores over Europa Report, because it was shot in normal format. So it was able to render some really awesome sequences (the space walk rescue attempt is one of my most favourite sequences in that movie). But it loses to Europa Report in one aspect. Its climax was too over-done for my taste. But Europa Report has managed to maintain rationality in its somewhat action-wise subdued but utterly realistic and believable climax. And in the end, it does manage to answer a question raised within the movie itself: "Compared to the breadth of knowledge yet to be known, what does your life actually matter?"
On the whole a really nice Sci-Fi flick. Worth watching at least once...
My Rating: 3.5
They say that one should not bite the hand that feeds. Very True. But what happens if the hand that feeds, itself becomes the hand that kills?
Parallelly released in Marathi language under the title Lalbaug Parel, it is directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. If you have seen Vaastav and Astitva, need I say anything more? But I feel I do need to say more... For this is a unique movie, about the city I was born and brought up in. The city I love, like so many others. And hate, like so many others too. And I feel it needs to be told...
Truly speaking, this is the story of a standard lower middle class mill-worker's family, one of the many millions of similar families that formed the cogs in the machinery of this City till the 80's... Till the mills were shut down, to make way for Shopping Malls and sky-scrapers. A family of six living in a 10 x 10 feet room in one of the many chawls that formed the landscape of Mumbai during that time.
The father, who used to work in one of the textile mills, has taken retirement. He is waiting for the gratuity amount promised him post-retirement - but the mills are yet to settle the dues of all the retired workers. One son is a struggling writer whose plays don't ever get sold. Another one, Mohan, works in a bank. The third son roams around being a "bhai" - a local goon. And the only daughter works in a beauty parlour. Somehow they are all trying to make ends meet.
The Mills are shutting down one department after another, claiming loss in business. The workers go on strike. While this drama unfolds, the family faces one problem after another. And they are not the only ones. The mill workers have not been paid for months. How are they to feed their families, pay the school fees, the rents?
And in the backdrop of their tribulations, unfolds the untold story of Mumbai, currently one of the costliest cities in India, maybe in the world too. How this City of the working class turned into a City of Gold. I think each city is like a person. It has a unique personality, a unique past, present and future. If I have to describe the personality of the city of Mumbai, I would describe it as that of a worker. For it is the city of the working class. A city born out of economic necessity, build and developed out of economic progress. Everything in Mumbai is economy driven.
One of the major trades in Mumbai post-independence, was the Textile Mills. Millions of mill workers worked in these mills, which worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in three daily shifts. All these workers mostly stayed in chawls near the mills itself, in the area around Parel, which came to be known in the local slang as the "Giran Gaon" - the village/town of the mills. Hence the name of the Marathi version Lalbaug, Parel. At the end of every shift, the iconic Siren would go off, indicating the end of one shift, and beaconing the workers who would toil and shed their sweat and blood in the next one. They would work one or two shifts a day and make ends meet.
But all this changed when the mill owners began to shut down parts of the mill, claiming losses. The mills might not be profitable, but the abundant land on which they stood, could gain the owners a lot of money. This was what they secretly desired. The untapped development potential of the land on which the mills stood. The land, so the movie claims was not owned by the owners themselves, but was given to them on lease for 99 years by the Government. And so, they began to make things difficult for the workers. The movie depicts this very nicely.
It depicts the hunger and desperation of the common mill worker and his family. Some commit suicide. The kids of some turn to crime and violence, driven by the most basic need to feed the fire within their hungry stomachs. It is sad and horrible indeed.
The movie also depicts the machinations that go on behind the closed doors of the mill owners' offices. The corruption and the under-handed deals would make anyone's blood boil.
All the major characters are quite well-sketched. All the actors, most of them from Marathi film industry, have played their part extremely well.
The directorial talent of Mahesh Manjrekar is evident in the brilliant portrayal of the harsh life of the mill workers, before "they became extinct, like dinosaurs" (to borrow a dialog from the movie itself). The story does not flinch to depict illicit love affairs or violence, in the same way it unflinchingly depicts the desperation and the sad state of the mill-workers' families after the mills shut down. The life in the chawl is portrayed very realistically - life in small 10x10 rooms, where there is no space for personal privacy, but lots of space for humanity, and neighbourly love and care.
As far as I know, the Marathi version - Lalbaug Parel - became more famous than the original Hindi one. One of the reasons probably was that the Marathi speaking localites could identify with its content. And second reason being that, the Hindi audience, who were looking out for mere entertainment, probably found nothing new in this movie. For Mahesh Manjrekar has already explored similar concepts (like common man turning into a criminal) in his previous movies like Vaastav. If that is the case, then I think they missed the point entirely...
Because this is an important movie for anyone who wishes to understand the events that triggered the transformation of this city of mills and chawls, into a city of skyscrapers, huge corporate offices and shopping malls. A city where people who own a piece of it's land, need not really work for a living. And ironically, a city where a hard working common man can no longer afford to buy a home of his own. A City of Gold...
My Rating: 3.5
After watching Children of Men directed by Alfonso Cuarón, I was eager to watch his newest release Gravity. And the wait was worth it!
For a movie named 'Gravity', most of it takes place in an absence of it. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are a part of a team of astronauts on a mission to do some repair-work on the famous Hubble Space telescope, when disaster strikes. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are the only survivors. And in the cold, dark and empty loneliness of Space, with communications and vital instruments down, they have to battle against seemingly insurmountable odds to survive and get back to Earth.
If I were to describe the movie in minimum amount of words, I would call it "visually stunning". I am glad I watched it in 3D. People associate 3D with action scenes where fast moving things hurtling towards the camera appear as if they are actually coming straight at you. I was under the same misconception until I saw the movie Sanctum in 3D. Much of that movie is shot within caves and under water, where most of the scenes have a dark background. This makes the feebly illuminated portions stand out. And it looks even better in 3D, where the contours appear so well-defined. The lights playing over the huge caverns, or on the surface of the water way above (when the camera is under water), or on the bubbles floating around, look almost magical in their clarity, thanks to the 3D effects. Same is the case with Gravity.
In Space, everything is either dark, or very brightly illuminated by the naked sun rays. This contrasting interplay of light and darkness makes things stand out very nicely in 3D. Most of the movie takes place in orbit around the Earth. The slow graceful movements of the astronauts in space is captured very nicely. So are the various objects, large and small, floating around in empty space. It all adds up to a very stunning visual experience.
The views of the Earth as the backdrop, from far above in orbit are stunning. So is the depiction of the space shuttle and the ISS. The movie depicts the rare beauty of the Earth and the nature from space, even as the tense story-line moves from one catastrophe to the other.
In spite of being a Sci-Fi movie, it does not have your distant planets, fancy star-ships, aliens or super-advanced technology. The director has tried to keep it as near to the present-day science as possible. Though I am not sure how much of the science portrayed in the movie is realistic or actually plausible, it does not seem improbable to the layman. The harsh and dangerous environment of space is the villain and the indomitable human spirit to survive against all odds is the true hero of the movie.
For most of its part, the story hurtles along at break-neck speed. It does slow down a bit in the second half, which many of you might find a bit boring. But its worth the wait as the story once again picks up speed as it approaches the climax.
The characters of both the protagonists are neither too shallow, nor overly well-defined. But at least they are sketched realistically. Both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney do justice to the characters with their great acting skills. Sandra Bullock's acting is especially nice.
The story is not as complex as some other Space disaster-survival movies like Apollo 13. But the visual effects are ground-breaking and worth the money.
My Ratings: 3.5
Our life, the world we build for us, our entire system works on our hope for the future. All our plans, expectations, speculations are based from future's point of view. But what if there was no future to look forward to? With no hope for the coming tomorrow, our system would slowly but surely decay and collapse. This is the premise on which Children of Men is based.
The movie starts with the protagonist viewing a news report in a bar. Its the news of a famous celebrity who passed away. Its a kid. He was famous because he was the last kid to be born. In the future, mankind has inexplicably lost the ability to give birth. Everyone has, for some reason become sterile. And this has lead to a slow but certain Global Meltdown. As the protagonist comes out of the bar and walks away, there is a blast in the bar. It is one of the regularly carried out arsonous acts carried out by the Foogies (for Refugees) against a totalitarian government regime.
This is how the movie starts. The lead protagonist's ex-wife asks him a favour. He has to arrange for a pass to get someone out of the country. He manages to get the pass, but it turns out, he will have to personally escort that someone. Somewhere on the way, things take a turn for the worse. And while trying to cope with the sudden turn of events, he realizes that his mission is much more important and critical than it appears.
The story is based in a hypothetical future. So it certainly is a Sci-Fi movie, but without the aliens and the hi-tech stuff. And the story never really explores the why and the how of the apparently sudden sterility of the entire human race. It has some very breath-taking action. But its not your usual action flick. The direction ensures that the main theme of the movie never gets lost in the action scenes and the depiction of a future gone bad.
The movie starts with a bang but soon looses momentum for a while, as the stage is set, and the character-building happens. This initial character and story-building is nice if you don't mind the slow pace. And then suddenly the movie picks up speed. And then it hardly ever slows down...
The protagonist has to get involved in lots of action and intrigue. But he is never depicted as an action hero. He is a normal empathetic human who is doing what has to be done, like a normal human. neither are the antagonist portrayed as totally evil. The characters in this movie are more realistic shades of grey, instead of the usually shallow black and white ones that most simplified movie plots depict.
The director Alfonso Cuarón (director of the famous recent movie Gravity), pretty nicely depicts a world where hope is lost and all is shot to hell. And yet, we are shown the human side of things, where common people try to survive against all hopelessness and unnecessary violence. Even the violence is depicted with empathy, where we feel the unnecessariness of it, and the shock of its sad aftermath. And in spite of its dark dreary background, the movie gives us a message: that however dark and hopeless the future may appear, there is always hope...
On the whole its a pretty decent flick. Much better than your run of the mill Sci-fi action movies that attract so much audience. This is certainly not for everyone. But if you like sensitive movies, that add a pack of pretty slick action, pace and suspense, then you will certainly enjoy this movie the way I did.
My Ratings: 4
I have never been much of an Old-Black-&-White-Movies guy. Not until recently, I began exploring some such old movies. And I am surprised to come across some really fine ones, even for their time! This is one such movie...
It reminds me of Fail Safe, another awesome Black and White movie I recently watched. Both are based on a similar premise - what if, by mistake or deliberately, someone triggers a military action that will lead to a certain Nuclear War? Whereas Fail Safe is a very serious movie, Dr. Strangelove is a black comedy on the same subject. And yet the seriousness of both the movies cannot be undermined
The name is pretty misleading. At least the Dr. Strangelove part. For though there is a character with that name in the movie, he hardly appears for a few moments somewhere during the second half of the movie.
The movie is full of a lot of zany characters, with unusual names. We have a Russian Premier named Kissoff, a US General named Turgidson, and another one named... Jack D. Ripper :-P And each one plays an equally zany role in this really eccentric movie. Some of the witty dialogue will make you laugh out loud and long. For instance: "Gentlemen you can't fight in here, this is the war room."
The comical storyline might over-shadow the fact that the props and effects shown in the movie are really nice for their time. The bomber plane's flight is traced quite nicely by the camera. And though, one can sometimes discern that the plane is really a model being moved over a set or a background motion picture, other times the plane's flight looks very real indeed. Not to mention breath-taking and elegant... The instrument panels displayed look realistic too (at least to a layman like me who has never set foot inside a cockpit).
The story has its moments of suspense that keeps us holding onto our seats. But the tense atmosphere is soon broken as the scene shifts from serious impending catastrophe to idiosyncratic high-level politicians and military men bungling up the efforts to avert the said catastrophe...
The actors have played their part really well. I personally liked the acting of Peter Sellers who has played all the three roles (Group Captain Mandrake, the President and Dr. Strangelove himself) quite admirably. Though his acting as Dr. Strangelove appears a bit over-done, and gets overshadowed by his other two brilliant roles. And by the way, I was not aware that the three roles were played by the same actor, not until right this moment, when I checked out the Wikipedia page for the movie to get the names of the actors ;-)... I also liked the acting of George C Scott as General Turgidson.
There is something very serious about this supposed-to-be-funny movie. In the guise of a black comedy, it gives a very important message: It shows how greed and paranoia led up to an Arms Race. How building up an arsenal of Nuclear Arms as a Nuclear First Strike deterrent, might not always work. How the Fail Safe mechanisms put in place to avoid such an event may fail. And how we can end up destroying ourselves if we don't stop being so paranoid... The Cold War is thankfully over. But not the danger of a Nuclear War wiping us out altogether, even in this age...
My Ratings: 3
It is difficult to imagine a movie without the spicy elements of action, adventure, romance, omnipotent heroes, deadly villains. And yet, imagine a film that has a puzzle as its central driving force. Actually, a series of puzzles...
Imagine you wake up in an unknown room. The last thing you remember is doing something ordinary in an ordinary and familiar environment, like your home or your work-place. And the next thing, you wake up in this room. Its a medium-sized room. A cube-shaped one. All painted uniformly with a single colour. Each wall has a little hatch at its center. Ladders lead towards the hatch from up, as well as down. Hand-holds on the ceiling to access the one there. You go and open a hatch. it leads to another cube-shaped room. Albeit, with a different-coloured lights / walls. Each hatch opens up in another cube-shaped room.
Where are you? How did you come here? How do you get out? Why are you here? What is this place? How do you get out of here? And while you are trying to figure that out, you better watch your step. For some some of these rooms may hold unpleasant surprises...
This is the puzzle of the cube. It starts with a set of strangers trapped in a series of cube-shaped rooms. How did they get here? What is this place? Who built it? What is its purpose? Why were they brought here like this? How big is this place anyway? And where the heck is it? The movie does not complicate itself in order to explain away these conundrums. Though, the characters engage in rational discussions while they try to figure out what exactly is going on. As the story progresses, they try to contemplate on some rational possibilities to these questions. And their probable conclusions are revealing, intellectual, profound and rational.
There are no heroes and no villains here. No known heroes at least, and no known villains. Just a bunch of strangers in a race against time to solve puzzles of the cube - that's what fuels the pace of the movie. And finally, it is a revealing exploration of how humans react under pressure, exhaustion and desperation...
It does not explore the past lives of the characters much. Nor does it add unnecessary emotions and romance. Yet the personality of each character is plausibly well defined as the movie progresses.
The pace of the movie never slackens. Every few minutes, we are treated with new revelations about the intricate puzzles of the Cube. And though the movie purposefully does not clutter it plot to answer some of the questions about the purpose and existence of the Cube, it does end with a satisfactory, if a bit unexpected climax.
Its a well-thought of movie, that may not have achieved financial success, but, over the years, has become a cult classic. To this day, it remains one of my favourite movies in the puzzle genre (not that there are many movie to appear under this genre - unfortunately).
If you like movies with a bit more brain and a bit less spice in them, an unusual and unique concept and rational plot-line, then you will certainly enjoy this one, the same way I did.
My Ratings: 4
Not many movie series can boast of sequel that's better than the original. But this is one of them. The second movie in The 3 Investigators series, is certainly better than the first one. If you are a hard-core fan of the T3I, or if you have read the book The Secret of the Terror Castle, then please don't expect the same story from the movie. The book was one of my favourites and I was quite disappointed to know the kind of liberties the movie makers have taken to almost completely change the original story... Though it was to be expected, considering the first movie which was completely different from the original book (except for the title, the central characters and a few little details here and there). The same can be said about this movie.
And yet, the movie has a charm of its own. The direction is ok again, but better than the first part. The story, though quite different from the original book, is better too. More complex than the first movie's story, it also boasts more puzzles, thrills, humour and action.
Lets look at the central theme of the movie. The Terror Castle itself. From the day I read the book, I have always been fascinated about the Terror Castle. Time and again, I have tried to imagine how it would look like. The Terror Castle portrayed in the movie does not necessarily match the one in my imagination. But it certainly is worth appreciating. The setting, design and portrayal of an old abandoned castle full of mysterious devices and an unsettling brooding atmosphere has been done quite nicely. The story about who built the terror castle and why is entirely different from the original one. And though it is not as good as the original (may be that's my personal prejudice), it certainly is complex, plausible (within fictional limits) and quite interesting.
As for the central characters, the three kid artist portraying the Three Investigators have played their part pretty well, as in the previous movie. Jupiter Jones is smarter than before. We get to know some more about his personal life in the movie (which as far as I remember, has not been explored much in the books). Pete and Bob both add a nice touch of humour. Apart from these famous trio, we get to meet some other characters famous in the original book series. For instance, we get to meet Uncle Titus Jones and Aunt Mathilda (but only for a minute or two). And we get to see the great Rolls Royce, and its chauffeur, the famous Worthington, whose short role has been well-portrayed in the movie. And we also get to meet some other characters, like the eccentric sheriff, an equally eccentric girl who falls for Bob, and the spectre of Steven Terrill, the century old creator of the Terror Castle.
Rational explanations of almost supernatural mysteries and almost impossible puzzles has always been a hallmark of the original T3I series. The movie-makers have tried to keep this in mind as Jupiter his pals try to figure out some almost seemingly inexplicable events and occurrences in the story. There are some obviously glaring holes in the story. But one can always ignore them as the story hurtles along with a steady pace.
The T3I have been known to be tech-savvy for their time. But time and technology has changed a lot. And the arsenal of tricks up the sleeves of these new 3 investigators looks like some stolen props from the Spy-Kids movie. But the movie-makers have tried to keep the use of these hi-tech devices to a minimum, and rely on the cranial abilities of Jupe in order to solve the major puzzles in the story.
If you are a die-hard fan of the T3I, and can still manage to forgive the movie-makers for not being faithful to the original story, then this movie is worth watching at least once. Certainly a welcome addition to the Kids Movies genre...
My Ratings: 3
At first there were the fairies and the giants, magicians and evil witches, magic and myth that made up the major mass of kid stories for ages. Then they became a bit more sensible when mystery and adventure were used to make these stories entertaining. But this era of relatively rational kid stories did not last long. The kid story genre was thrust into the Dark Ages as once more the crutches of magic and fantasy were used to entertain kids, instead of real-life down to earth adventures. But before the rise of this Dark Age, there were the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Famous Five... and the Three Investigators...
As a kid, I stumbled upon T3I while reading a Hardy Boys book. At the back was a full list of titles. Mystery of the Terror Castle, Haunted Mirror, Moaning Caves, Talking Skull. The titles captured my imagination. Soon I had my first T3I book in my hands and I was hooked. For the longest time, I trawled the net in search of any TV serial, any movie, animated or otherwise, about the T3I. After reading the books, staring at the covers and the illustrations for long wistful moments, I was eager to see the terror castle, the haunted mirror, the Jones Salvage yard, the T3I headquarters. But alas! No one seemed to be interested in making a TV series or a movie on such an awesome series. Sad...
And then, a few days back, I stumbled upon this movie. The Three Investigators - Secret of Skeleton Island. Someone had finally made a movie out of one of the T3I books! I had to watch it! And I did.
The story is nice. It has its usual set of ups and downs. Suspense and Puzzles. Humour and action. But as far as I remember, it is not faithful to the actual story in the book. There are quite a few differences. But that does not make it in any way boring or uninteresting.
The cinematography is quite nice. The shots of some of the natural beauty of South Africa are quite breath-taking. So much so, that it looks more like an advertisement for SA Tourism rather than a T3I movie.
The direction is OK - your standard one for Kids movies. But some of the sets and props are quite nice. The Jones Salvage Yard and the T3I headquarters are quite nicely and imaginatively portrayed in the movie.
The actors have acted well. Especially the kids playing the three investigators kind of fit their roles quite well. Jupiter's acting was good, and so was Pete's. Bob's was a bit over-done, but it was charming in its own way.
Frankly speaking, I was a bit disappointed. Being a die-hard hard-core fan of T3I, I find it disappointing that the movie-makers took the liberty to change the actual story to such an extent. Agreed, it was targeted at South African audience. Yet, for me it was disappointing. Moreover, I have always thought, that the T3I would make a great animated TV series. It they would stick to the original story-line, it would make a great series. So the portrayal of T3I as a real-life movie was a bit disappointing to me, personally.
And yet, the try was worth it. Our generation of kids enjoyed the T3I books so much. And I wish that the kids nowadays, who are so enamored to Harry Potter and similar new-age stuff, should be introduced to the T3I universe. And I hope that this movie (and its companion "Secret of Terror Castle" - which I plan to watch soon) would prove an ideal platform for doing just that.
My Ratings: 2.5
This movie is not about Monsters.
It has aliens. And Soldiers fighting them. But it is not about Aliens. And it is not about war. And certainly not about Humans fighting Aliens.
And its less of a Sci-Fi movie, more like an art flick. Somewhat like the movie The Road, only less intense, less apocalyptic, less tragic and much more positive.
If you are expecting any of this masala (spicy) stuff in this movie then I recommend you go watch something else. You and this movie may have compatibility issues.
If you are still reading on, it probably means you are open to watching something that is more substantial, subtle yet meaningful than the mindless movies that depict the above mentioned scenarios. If so, then this little piece of audio-visual treat may surprise you.
In defiance to what its name and its story-line may suggest, its about a little voyage. Involving two humans. One is a photographer. Another is the daughter of his boss, a big-shot publisher. He is unwillingly entrusted the responsibility of leading her out of Mexico and back into US across the "infected zone".
Science-wise, the premise about the aliens and how they appeared on earth is sadly quite shallow. Nor is the depiction of the aliens original or inspired. But it does no injustice to the story-line which uses the alien "infestation" as a base to build upon, nothing more.
The characters of both the protagonists are complex and very well-sketched. He is a care-free soul, unscrupulous when it comes to savouring the little joys life has to offer. She is a some-what disillusioned woman, probably searching for a meaning out of the meaningless chaos that life sometimes appears to become. The chemistry between them is depicted pretty nicely.
The dialogues are pretty thought-provoking. The one I liked best was a sequence where the lady asks the photographer (who is dying to get a good shot of an alien's attack) "Doesn't that kinda bother you, that you need something bad to happen to profit from it?" And his answer to her is mind-blowing. I wish I could quote it here, but that would ruin your experience of actually stumbling over it during the movie.
The script and story are well-crafted enough. For instance, the sequence about how they loose their only chance to leave Mexico via a ferry ride over the sea, is both comical and tragic.
The post-apocalyptic scenes of a countryside ravaged by calamity are sometimes visually stunning, sometimes subtle, beautiful and touching. Its a pretty slow movie. Don't expect quick and stunning action from it. It has a slow but enjoyable pace of its own.
The direction and photography are technically pretty amateur, crude, by commercial movie standards. Yet the story is depicted with maturity and empathy. The visuals are artistic and pleasing. In spite of its slow pace and not much action involved, some of the scenes build up the suspense pretty nicely. It makes good use of the background score and audio effects to do that.
And in the end, we are left to wonder, who exactly are the "Monsters" in the movie?
This is a little unknown gem. It was released in 2010, and I don't remember ever hearing about it. Like all the best movies I have ever seen... yes yes, I know I am repeating the phrase... I did "stumble upon this" one too, while trawling for such unknown gems over the net. And am I happy about this find.
My ratings: 3.5
