The 2020 film “Love and Monsters” is a science/fantasy fiction story in which the hero is driven by love and chased by monsters. The trailer seemed fun enough and the movie turned out to be kinda entertaining too. It’s light, funny in parts, with an adorable dog, but could have been much more entertaining if it had more monsters. That’s pretty much the short review.
Now let’s get into a detailed but spoiler-free review. Plot overview – Directed by Michael Matthews, this story is about a post-apocalyptic world, where mutated animals have taken over the world, wiping out almost 90% of the human population, forcing the survivors to live in underground bunkers. Our hero is Joel (played by Dylan O’Brien), who feels he is ‘good for nothing’, so he decided to move out of his colony and find his old girlfriend who is a seven-day journey away. But it’s not going to be an easy trip, as he’ll have to go to the surface and journey on foot in a world dominated by huge mutated monsters that eat humans.
Just the idea of the story is quiet fun, imagine having a protagonist fighting/escaping giant sized snails/frogs/worms and what not. The makers also throw in some talking robots, which was a nice touch, even though the bit with a robot slows down the pace a bit. The cinematography of ‘Love and Monsters’ is quite a treat to watch. Nature has reclaimed most of the space that was once dominated by buildings, so you get to see a lot of greenery and overgrowth. The computer-generated-monsters are not too bad either and make for interesting villains. As a viewer, you are left wanting more of the ugly-giant-human-eating-creatures.
Overall, “Love and Monsters” is a fun film, on the lighter side of the science-fantasy genre and looks like the makers were just trying to have some fun with it. The true hero of the film was a dog called ‘Boy’ that Joel adopts along the way, the canine will make you want to adopt a pet if you don’t have one. Actors Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt have a small cameo in the movie as Clyde and Minnow, two strangers trying to find a new home, who rescue Joel and teach him how to survive on the surface. Despite having love as a central theme, it didn’t have too much romance, which was a welcome change for me. Those looking for mush might be left disappointed.
If you are looking for a simple post-apocalyptic survival film that does not have zombies, ‘Love and Monsters’ is good for a one time watch. It’s a 6/10 from me.
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