Can love and monsters mix? Should they even mix? And what’s up with the title? Here’s my Love and Monsters review which stars Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick and directed by Michael Matthews which is now streaming on Netflix.

Synopsis:

Seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, Joel Dawson, along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. After reconnecting over the radio with his high school girlfriend, Aimee, 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 to venture out to Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.

Let me start with this admission. I almost didn’t finish this film thanks to that cringe-inducing scene with the monster frog attempting to eat our protagonist Joel. Swear, almost lost it. Had to stop watching and get some fresh air.

With that out of the way, let me say in this Love and Monsters review that I liked it. I was expecting some B-list movie with actual Hollywood talents appearance in it just for the money. But the film had something to say and was hitting the right directions when it comes to story, pacing and even monster designs.

Yeah fuck you frog.

It was sooooooo Fallout in a lot of ways. No wonder people online were quick to refer to the film as an unofficial Fallout movie because it was minus Raiders and Deathclaws.

O’Brien’s taking more serious roles after his Maze Runner movies and its a nice thing to see him taking a break to do something more up his alley. And he gives a really good performance here as a young adult discovering things about himself that he didn’t know. There’s just a lot of positivity in this film. Then thanks to the sharp writing and screenplay, he’s quippy when he needs to be and moving when he wants to make you feel something.

Jessica Henwick’s appearance here is short but sweet. Serving as the protagonist’s main quest she appears just when needed. She also provides a bit of the climatic action sequence and gives our character some bit of awkwardness that we need to break the tension. It’s hard though not to remember here as Coleen Wing from the defunct Netflix series “Iron Fist”.

Yondu is also here or rather Michael Rooker who plays helpful stranger Clyde. Really reminds me of Tallahassee from Zombieland only more friendlier and less wacko. Them working with our hero to get past some basic training also helped shaped the rules and presented a “Chekov’s Gun” / foreshadowing in the movie.

Again, I have to commend the monster designs here and with how the movie ended with a possibility of a sequel, I’m really hyped to see more everyday animals get turned into giant man-eating creatures. I’d like to say that I also enjoyed this more than Monster Hunter and if you just subbed in a Rathalos somewhere in the movie and Joel’s crossbow for a bow and arrow, this would have also been a good unofficial Monster Hunter movie.

Love and Monsters Review – Verdict

8/10

Its not bad at all. Pretty good actually thanks to the nuanced performance of O’Brien who continues to show how versatile actor he can be and some great action scenes here and there. Its got a lot of movie influences seeping throughout and you can see it from a mile away not to the film’s detriment though.

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