'Love and Monsters' Review
PG-13: Action/violence, language, and some suggestive material
Runtime: 1 Hr and 48 Minutes
Production Companies: 21 Laps Entertainment, Entertainment One
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Michael Matthews
Writers: Brian Duffield, Matthew Robinson
Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Michael Rooker, Ariana Greenblatt, Jessica Henwick
Release Date: October 16, 2020 (select theaters and VOD)
Seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, Joel Dawson (Dylan O’Brien), along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground since giant creatures took control of the land. After reconnecting via radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick), who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony, Joel begins to fall for her again. As Joel realizes that there’s nothing left for him underground, he decides — against all logic — to go to Aimee, despite the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.
Fictional stories with apocalyptic settings are often bleak. Whether it be a movie, TV series, video game, or even the current state of our reality as we know it, we can all agree that the apocalypse is such a miserable setting. Not too long ago, The Last of Us 2 was released, which is such a somber, brutal, and bleak video game experience that’s meant to suck all the life out of you. Despite a setting that should exude pain and misery, Michael Matthews’s sophomore feature Love and Monsters offers the complete antithesis of that.
Welcome to the Monsterpocalypse, which was caused when an asteroid was destroyed by nuclear bombs, which led to chemicals raining back down to Earth, making small animals mutate into large, deadly, grotesque monsters. Seven years into this monster-infested world, we meet Joel Dawson, a neurotic 24-year-old who doesn’t feel at home in his colony and decides to seek out his girlfriend Aimee, who he speaks to over the radio. After spending so many years away from the woman he loves, he decides to buck up and travel 85 miles to see her. On his journey, he meets a variety of people who help him with his quest, including a badass dog named Boy and a wise man with a sword who is accompanied by a kid archer.
Man, if this movie was made 5 to 8 years ago, it would’ve been the kind of story that starred Jay Baruchel, for Joel is reminiscent of Hiccup from the first How to Train Your Dragon movie. Heck, Dylan O’Brien straight-up sounds like Jay Baruchel at times. That being said, Love and Monsters serves as a great vehicle for O’Brien to showcase a side of his talent that we haven’t seen before. We get to see him show more of his comedic side as Joel and, while the laughs are sometimes hit or miss due to the writing, O’Brien’s comic timing is spot-on. The real fun begins when Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt enter the picture as their characters briefly guide Joel and provide valuable tips on how to survive the apocalyptic land.
I don’t know what the budget for this movie was, but I am genuinely curious. Michael Matthews and his team put their all into the production design and visual effects to bring this original Monsterpocalypse world to life. Most of the locations, ranging from “the surface” to “underground bunkers,” are fully realized. You follow Joel through this dangerous post-civilization wasteland that is Earth and you can tell how much effort was put into making the different environments pop. Hell, I love the detailed designs of all the monsters and the CGI is completely rendered. Matthews does a great job playing with scope and scale while making sure that you can clearly see the creatures. By the end of the film, I found myself wanting to see more of this world and I also thought about how amazing it would’ve looked on an IMAX screen. Who even needs a Monster Hunter adaptation after Love and Monsters?
What really makes Love and Monsters one of the best movies of the year is its sweet-natured tone and the clever arc it provides for Joel. The people that he meets along the way aren’t savages or mean-spirited beings — in fact, they’re all sweethearts. The film has a surprisingly resonant theme of community and hope that makes this journey so fantastical. There are moments that genuinely choke you up in such a poignant, human, and rich manner. So much of this narrative involves Joel holding onto a past that he hasn’t emotionally moved on from while trying to find an identity in this new world. As I said, this is the complete antithesis of something like The Last of Us 2, which was so damn bleak and depressing. This movie shows an apocalyptic world where humanity still exists and it delivers a surprisingly timely message about unity and hope. It’s as if writers Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson watched the Paddington movies and tried to inject that kind-hearted, sweet-natured energy into this movie… and they succeeded.
The film’s first half is a bit rough, in my opinion. The comedic scenes can be weak at times, especially because the editing is so zippy that it messes with the flow of the film’s pacing. However, what it lacks in comedy it makes up for with character depth. Love and Monsters is an absolute blast. It’s a thrilling, fun, and captivating adventure that delivers such a relevant and kind-natured message of hope in a time when we need it the most. This is Dylan O’Brien’s show and he shines. I hope this film finds success via its digital release so that it can get a theatrically-released sequel.
