Written by contributor Simoun Marsada
If you can’t get enough of a running Dylan O’ Brien from The Maze Runner series or Teen Wolf, look no further as here comes Love and Monsters where we once again see O’Brien huffing and skidding for his dear life.
Due to limitations caused by the pandemic, Love and Monsters was released straight to video on demand and in a few theatres. However, despite skipping a wider theatrical release, the film is a sleeper hit. We mean, the title alone is sure to warrant admissions.
Love and Monsters is about the two things already mentioned in the title, the world was ravaged by monsters and Joel Dawson (Dylan O’Brien) finds himself stuck in an underground bunker with a few other survivors. After a breach in their shelter that leads to an attack by a giant ant, Joel ponders his mortality and decides that he should be with Aimee (Jessica Henwick, Game of Thrones and Iron Fist), the love of his life. This leads to an exciting journey where he encounters a lone dog, a pair of hardened but sentimental survivors, and lots and lots of monsters.
Love and Monsters could be compared to Zombieland. It has a less-than-confident hero who’s trying to survive a world where everything is trying to eat him. He’s also quick-witted and neurotic, and the way it played off on how to deal with the monsters is as creative as the zombie film. However, it’s not too gross-out or a laugh-out-loud comedy as Love and Monsters relies heavily on sentimentality to enrich the thrills. I was really surprised by this factor.
The makers, led by director Michael Matthews, have created a sprawling world of monsters and managed to connect it with what’s important in a post-apocalyptic situation: humanity. Throughout the film, Joel had grown sympathy and empathy for other survivors: humans, dogs, robots, and even the monsters themselves. Growth is an underestimated factor in films and Love and Monsters made sure that this is evident and understood. Joel started off as a character that literally freezes at the sight of monsters to someone who throws grenades at mouths of giant centipedes. And for a character that abandons his colony to put an end to his creeping loneliness, Joel sure had redeemed himself in the end. It’s imperative for a character like Joel to slowly shed off his selfishness so we can root for him and so the film could spread its legs and have an identity that is more than a romantic adventure flick.
You might have known O’Brien from The Maze Runner film trilogy, but it is actually in Teen Wolf where he shines the best. Dylan tapped into the Stiles Stilinski persona for this film, but meshed it with the mature sensitivity of his recent roles like Mitch in American Assassin. If you’ve tuned into Teen Wolf and saw how he acted as Void Stiles, it’s no surprise that Dylan had knocked it out of the park with this one. It’s nice to see Dylan going back to the goofy archetype that he was first known for and this film is the perfect way to do so.
If you’re wondering how many monsters there are, don’t fret, as it’s a tight 100-minute movie that includes as many monsters as it can, and boy, did it do it right. The visual effects are top-notch. The rendered monsters have the right balance of delightfulness and grittiness that make them stunning to watch. The scene with the Boulder Snail is akin to the Brachiosaurus scene from Jurassic Park as the CGI creature has been given weight and the environments where it was supposed to be in blends seamlessly. These monsters acted like the animals they were pre-mutation and it’s a breath of fresh air from most monster movies where the creatures are only there to wreak havoc and not behave like complex beings.
Love and Monsters also did well in the story department as it opens up themes and fleshes them out in a refreshing way. One case in point is the romance. There is a resigned idealism to it and even though we know what’s coming, it’s handled very subtly which makes it easy to digest. In short, the romance is not cheesy or hinders good storytelling.
Restarting halted romance is never easy. What’s good about the film is that while Joel’s quest for romantic love for Aimee is the starting point of the film, it branched out to different forms of love: love for family and love for nature. It’s a beautiful thing, really. Joel worked hard to earn back what he has lost and along the way learned that there is more to himself and the world. And while he may have not everything by the end, he has a new found glory that makes him a stronger and brighter person in a world with monsters only trying to co-exist.
I absolutely loved this movie. There was plot accompanied by action not overtaken by action. The acting was top notch and believable. I was completely invested in the development of Joel and wasn’t disappointed by his growth in the end. By the end of the movie I was left wanting and praying for a sequel. Dylan O’Brien was amazing and I was immediately taken back to Beacon Hills. Joel stands out on his own merit, but the hints of Stiles added depth to an unfamiliar character. Love and Monsters is definitely a worthwhile film to watch.