Monsters

The more sci-fi I watch the more I pray that it isn’t the Americans who discover the potential for extraterrestrial life! This time, NASA sends a probe to collect data from something they think might bear fruit in outer space but they manage to cock up the re-entry of their spacecraft and reduce great swathes of Mexico to the status of a quarantine zone. On the wrong side of this restricted area is hardened photo-journalist “Kaulder” (Scoot McNairy) who instead of getting some snaps of the reason for this new ultra-high security, ends up saddled with “Sam” (Whitney Able) who just happens to be the stranded daughter of his US paymaster. With the infrastructure in tatters and the locals in survival mode, it’s not going to be easy to get them home - especially as the prices are going through the roof and he has a penchant for hookers and getting robbed. It’s this last activity that condemns them both into the hands of the people smugglers and the local, somewhat superstitious at times, tribespeople - but can they make it? Now, first things first, there are virtually no monsters here and it’s a very slowly paced affair - so if you are looking for a sort of alien version of “Jurassic Park” then this won’t be for you. What it does manage, though, on what’s obviously not much more of a budget than these characters had to escape, is take us through a series of effectively photographed and perilous scenarios using the jungle, the rivers, some unscrupulous characters and a solid effort from the audio department to create quite an accumulative sense of menace. There’s a decent degree of chemistry between Able and McNairy, especially as if I’d been her character I’d probably have just thrown “Kaulder” to the crocodiles on more than one occasion! There’s no denying that it does sort of peter out, and the last twenty minutes are not anything to write home about, but if you let your own imagination work alongside that of auteur Gareth Edwards and ignore some of the banal dialogue, then it’s not an half bad thriller that merits a watch.