Monsters (2010)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Samantha Wynden	Whitney Able
Andrew Kaulder	Scoot McNairy	½

Review

With an incredibly limited budget of only $500,000 and a well-modelled if unremarkable post-apocalyptic script about two 20-somethings who must travel from Mexico to USA across a quarantined border area populated by large extraterrestrial creatures imported back to earth by a crash-landed NASA deep-space probe, young British director Gareth Edwards demonstrates that it is possible to make a professional looking science fiction film without big studio backing and large CGI resources. The film has its clear limitations when it comes to scope and story depth, but the portrait of Samantha and Andrew's developing relationship in the midst of unknown and uncertain perils evolves from stereotypical to evocative during the course of the film. Monsters may not be quite the ingenious first feature Edwards wanted to make, but it is refreshingly unexploitative and showcases enough of the writer/director's talent and sensibilities to be a worthwhile watch.