Love and Monsters

“Good instincts are earned by making mistakes.”

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Love and Monsters is a kind of action/adventure, post-apocalyptic comedy starring Dylan O'Brien and directed by Brian Matthews.

In a monster-infested, post-apocalyptic world, Joel learns his girlfriend is just eighty-five miles away in another bunker. To make the dangerous journey, Joel discovers his inner hero to be with the girl of his dreams.

This is another film I had no intention of seeing, but it jumped out at me one day and I had the opportunity to see it for free. To my delightful surprise, this may be another one of my favorite films of the year.

This kind of film is so rare nowadays. It was even rare before Covid-19, but in the world of streaming and movie theaters being nightmares, this kind of mid-budget adventure film is dead. Everything is either a two million dollar indie movie or a bloated, two-hundred million dollar blockbuster. 'Love and Monsters' sits at a comfy thirty million dollar budget with plenty of room to make its money back because it focuses so much on the characters and their emotional journeys.

The adventure genre is my favorite genre, so I am also quite critical of adventure films. 'Love and Monsters' feels like the first film is a very long time that scratched my adventure genre itch.

I've actually never been a fan of Dylan O'Brien as an actor. The last film I saw him in was 'American Assassin,' which was him trying to turn to more serious work and he just didn't work for that material. He is a wonderful fit for 'Love and Monsters' to where I think I'm starting to like Dylan O'Brien now. He brings this youthful energy and charisma to the film that just made watching him and people he met entertaining.

I think the greatest accomplishment of this film is not just that it's possibly one of the most unapologetically entertaining films I've seen in the last few years, but it also has subtext and themes.

However, the subtext is not the film. 'Love and Monsters' delivers the goods FIRST and the subtext is there to read into if you want (like every film should be). I truly hate films that overly rely on their subtext and don't deliver on the surface level elements first.

Take the 'Star Wars' prequels for example. Yes, there's some gobbledygook about fate, good and evil, the Bush administration, blah blah, whatever. So whenever there's some kind of defense for the prequels, everyone brings up the subtext and how brilliantly layered it all is. Look, we can kick at sand to find hidden meaning all day, but the prequels didn't deliver a competent series of films FIRST. So to get back on track, thank you 'Love and Monsters' for putting the goods first and making an unapologetically fun movie.

However, if we were to examine the themes of this film, it's not about getting the girl or saving the day. It's about finding personal growth in your failure; though your actions were in vain, you grew as a person for stepping out of your comfort zone.

So in terms of character breakdown, every great character has a want and a need. Woody from 'Toy Story' wants Buzz out of his life and Andy's attention again, but what Woody needs is to learn to compromise and share Andy's attention. In 'Love and Monsters,' Joel (O'Brien) wants the girl, but needs to get out of his comfort zone. It's perfectly set up and executed.

In the supporting cast is Michael Rooker who plays Clyde. He's a drifter in this monster-ridden world who knows all the ins and outs of these creature's weaknesses, what plants are good to eat, etc. So he meets up with Joel and shows him the ropes. Essentially, he's the Obi-Wan character.

Look, this film is not breaking the mold. It's just the hero's journey, but it just goes to show how impactful that structure can be if done right.

Also along the way, Joel gets a dog. The dog has a big role in the film, but what made the dog work was that it legitimately had a character with a hint of a tragic backstory. Great. The dog is a character now. If the dog was just there for no reason, then I would turn cynical.

I can see 'Love and Monsters' becoming a cult favorite in ten or fifteen years, like 'Tremors.' It was a delightful film.

Rating: See It

-Nolan