International lockdowns. Emergency mandates forbidding outside ventures. Monsters running amok on the surface, disease everywhere. Small spaces stuck with the same people, no one knowing when we’ll be able to leave.
For those assuming I am describing the current state of the world, you are incorrect. This eerily-similar “Monsterpocalypse” universe was created over six years ago by writers Brian Duffield (“The Babysitter”) and Matthew Robinson (“Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” “Monster Trucks”). Now, with the help of director Michael Matthews, it finally hit our screens on Oct. 16.
The story begins as all apocalyptic nightmares do, with an asteroid headed for Earth. However, when humanity bands together, their plan actually backfires. Nuclear waste from multitudes of rockets rain back down. Hundreds of thousands die, and the ecosystem morphs to fit these new conditions.
Innocent frogs turn into deformed, six-eyed beasts with tongues that can snatch anything twenty feet away. Leeches can release deadly toxins, and sharp-toothed worms hold an ability to jump out of the ground and latch onto your skin. The remaining five percent of the human race has no other choice but to hide underground.
Seven years later, 24 year-old Joel Dawson (played by “The Maze Runner” trilogy’s Dylan O’Brien) desires to leave his bunker and travel 80 dangerous miles to reach a coastal colony. Everyone in his own home pairs off, and after reconnecting with his high school sweetheart (Jessica Henwick from “Godzilla vs. Kong”) via an old radio, Dawson sets out to find her.
Yet, this differs from other dystopian movies. There is a lack of self-seriousness that usually surrounds solo storylines and completely changes the ending to avoid a cliché romance. Instead, there is genuine humor and growth from PTSD, adding more depth to Dawson. ScreenRant’s Abdullah Al-Ghamdi attributed this charming effect to O’Brien.
“O’Brien more than rises to the occasion,” Al-Ghamdi said. “He is embodying Joel with an innate sense of likability which helps viewers in rooting for the character to survive his encounters with a host of creepy-looking creatures. It’s a world of difference from ‘Maze Runner’ and ‘American Assassin,’ which obscured O’Brien’s charisma under a fog of self-seriousness.”
Another ScreenRant movie critic, Molly Freeman, added that O’Brien “can even carry off a one-sided conversation with a dog without it going too cartoonish. With few other characters in ‘Love and Monsters,’ let alone very many supporting roles, the movie is O’Brien’s shoulder and he proves himself as an exceptionally talented lead.”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”’s Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt from Disney Channel’s “Stuck in the Middle” also received praise from their supporting characters, Clyde and Minnow. Jade Budowski of Decider called Greenblatt “a star in the making the moment she appears” while Rooker was “appealing as his (Dawson’s) hardened but kind companion” in the eyes of Common Sense Media’s Sandie Angulo Chen.
Looking at the movie overall, it isn’t hard to see why it received a Rotten Tomatoes review of 92%. It takes a simple plot between a man and his dog when the world ends, and then dives into universal themes such as rejection, love and how we find out where we belong.
Though it may mimic how we’ve all felt to be in quarantine for nine months, the cast and crew assured in multiple panels, such as the one with Deadline, that the film is not a commentary “on the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the other plights affecting millions of Americans.”
O’Brien, who often uses his platform to encourage young voters, made claims that he instead saw his character’s story as a Pixar animation film come to life.
“It was such a sharp script,” he said to ComingSoon in an interview. “And I love all the humor and the tone and I thought it was, like, a borderline satire take on the apocalypse that stayed grounded the whole way through….to do it live-action seemed like a challenge, and seemed like such a cool challenge.”
“Love and Monsters” is now available on Amazon Prime, AppleTV and other streaming platforms and is playing in select theaters across the United States. For those staying in this Halloween to stuff your face full of candy while binge-watching movies to fit this crazy world, I suggest adding this new apocalyptic tale to your list.
