Monsters: Dark Continent

Wasn't expecting much from this, To be honest, I just went to kill a few hours on a slow Friday afternoon. However, the film was much, much better than some of the reviews on here would lead you to believe. No, it isn't another Battle: Los Angeles – Nor is it meant to be. It actually stays true to the original Monsters film in that it's about relationships. The first was a love story, this is more about relationships under strain in the pressure cooker of a war zone. While the film was a little overlong (it got a bit navel-gazey in places, especially toward the end), it mostly had me gripped for its entire running time: the action was visceral (the dogfight, for example), there was an almost-constant feeling of tension and the special effects were breathtaking: the monsters have had some serious creature design done on them, introducing the young and some (I think) subspecies. Every time they appeared on screen I was captivated by their depiction: of course, their appearance at the Bedouin camp was the highlight of the film along, I suppose, with the tantalising half-reveal at the end. The performances from a not well-known troupe of actors were excellent, especially from Sam Keeley as Parkes, Nicholas Pinnock as Forrest (even if his character was a bit Underused) and Johnny Harris as Frater. And the message is still there: what, exactly are we fighting, and why? The 'monsters' are never shown destroying anything (other than minor damage caused by what seems to be natural curiosity) and the scenes with the smaller monsters galloping along side the jeeps shows them to be rather beautiful, exuberant creatures. All in all, an extremely enjoyable and, at times, thought-provoking film. Very, very pleasantly surprised.

I started feeling annoyed after only watching the first 10 minutes. 4 Young kids enlist in the Army, well not really enlisting as it states for each young man the years they had already served. These 4 young men were like little kids and I just hope the Army doesn't really have men with this type of mentality. The movie really had nothing to do with monsters. They were only put there to make the movie more interesting. It centers more these men and the war. Yes, kill a few monsters and jump up and down with joy. Some scenes were a little shocking and the scene with the dog fighting a baby alien while these uneducated dead heads watched and cheered was something that I thought shouldn't have been included in the movie. Especially when the poor dog gets killed by the alien and then some thug shoots the Alien. The acting wasn't too bad but I felt it went a little over board. I was hoping the film would finish earlier than it's 2 hours or so. I was getting fed up with the war and wanted more of the Monsters but disappointingly, I had to see through gun fire, screaming and nonsense. The title really has nothing to do with the movie. Waste of time unless you like war films, people firing guns at each other and a story line which to me didn't make much sense.

"This was our home. It was our last day, so for those last few hours we needed to forget about what was coming." Ten years after the monsters landed on Earth things have gotten worse. They have begun to fully take over the entire planet and now with the US military using all of its resources to fight them off they now have to contend with a new type of insurgency. I will start by saying that I remember seeing the first one, thinking it was a little slow, but it's been so long all I remember about it is the cheesy ending. I had the same expectations for this one. I was wrong. While I though this one was a little better it was still pretty slow moving and was really missing something the first one had...monsters. In terms of war movies this one is pretty decent, the problem with it is that every so often a monster would pop up out of nowhere, presumably to remind you the movie is called monsters. Some movies are deceiving because of the trailers released, they seem funny and are really dramas, etc...this is the first movie I have seen where the title is misleading. This is really just another US vs Taliban movie, with an occasional (out of place) monster thrown in. Overall, a movie much like Battle LA, if there were no aliens in that movie. I give this a C.

What a load of pretentious, art w*nk nonsense this film really is. It's bad enough that the story is paper thin and the characters are as unlikeable as an upset stomach (one minute gangsta tough, the next screaming like babies) but the direction is shocking. It's like a frustrated art student trying out every possible style of image capture. Long shots, close shots, lens flare, angled, shaky cam, slow mo and none of them working. One pointless scene of a helicopter taking off showed it's ascent from at least 10 different angles - outside looking up, inside looking out, inside looking inside, outside different angle etc etc. Every character must have had at least two shots of them silent screaming from the Dummies Guide to filming internal angst. Things aren't explained, geography is not established and you can almost feel the makers telegraphing their contempt to the audience that 'if you don't get this, you're too stupid'. It's not engaging, thought provoking or entertaining. And when it's finished all you can contemplate is the utter pointlessness of the whole film. I know many complain of studio execs interfering with a film but you really have to question who greenlit this laughable project or signed off the finished product for general release. Whoever it was can't tell the difference between a movie and a flickerbook of cool filtered Instagram pics.

Just saw the Empire Magazine Premiere of this film at the aptly named Empire Leicester Square. As with a with other London Film Festival offerings a brief introduction normally with a few words from the director, and the odd actor or screenwriter was done. The introduction was kicked off by scruffiest person I have seen all year from Empire Magazine (to be fair to him he did admit as much) Then there was a vote of thanks by the director Tom Green who then proceeded to, I exaggerate not, thank EVERY person involved in the movie (I wondered what the end credits were for) this went on forever it seemed. All the films stars were paraded on the stage all suited and booted and all MALE. That aside I settled down to watch the film. First let's go back to the Empire Magazine guy who "warns" that this film was a war move. Back to the film It starts off with our "heroes" involved in a conflict with insurgents in the Middle East and spends the ENTIRE film as a war movie with the Monsters in the background. We were warned remember? Now I thought war movie in the context of he title Monsters… meant Alien vs. Humans not war movie as in Hurt Locker. So you can gather by now that I did not like the movie, the acting was so clichéd it hurt, the script and dialogue was all over the place and it tried to be too many things at the same: War movie, Sci-Fi, War Movie, Drama, War Movie, Action, War Movie, Road Movie, War Movie (did I say war movie?). I do not go into this film expecting to watch, wait for it a WAR MOVIE. I have seen else where on this site that this film is better than the first one. IT IS NOT, the original was not exactly a flawless piece or work, but its main appeal was that it was made on a shoestring budget with a director's vision, wit and a wing and a prayer. This film was empty and for all the bullets flying around was frankly quite boring. It only lit up when the Monsters of the title Remember? Appeared. To be brutality honest THE MONSTERS were this film's BEST ACTORS. To be fair to this film, and I'm really trying to be, the monster effects were excellent. But the monsters had very little airtime, it looked like the creatures had other engagements and had no time to remains in this particular movie!

This is the most disappointing movie I have seen in a while. I have no idea why they even had "Monsters" in the title or movie for that matter. They could have saved everyone some time and money by not having monsters at all, seeing as how they only serve as a backdrop for a poor war story, which is really just a 5 minute shoot out and a 3 minute escape. It starts out with a sad story about some "poor kids" growing up in Detroit, so of course they think they are hard. They decide to join the army to fight monsters. They get their wish as they kill 1 shortly after arriving in the middle east. And that is about it, other than a few monsters being bombed there is no reason to have monsters in the movie at all. The monsters are decent looking even though they serve almost no purpose to the story, except to draw attention away from the HORRIBLE story. If you have 2 hours and nothing to do and can't sleep , it might be worth watching. If only to put you to sleep.

Wow! Not a good wow, but just wow. I was really psyched to hear about a sequel to "Monsters" because that was such a great sci-fi movie but man, was I disappointed in this one. This was really just an anti-war movie and I think there was a message in there about the middle-east conflict but I couldn't be sure because there were so many confusing themes happening at the same time. The one thing this wasn't was a sci- fi movie about.....monsters. They could have edited out every monster scene and it would not have changed the movie one bit, I'm not kidding. If I had seen a pre-release copy that didn't have the special effects added in, I wouldn't have been confused about what was going on, at least no more than I am now. I'm sorry Tom Green but a swing and a miss.

I was excited when I first heard about a sequel to MONSTERS. Then, as I often do when trying to keep up with all the films I eagerly await, I lost track of it and all-of-a-sudden it became available. Being a big fan of the original, I couldn't wait to see it. Now that I've watched it, I can't stress how much of a disappointment it was. MONSTERS: DARK CONTINENT is NOT a Sci-Fi / Horror movie. It is a war movie disguised as a Sci-Fi. And it's not even a very good war movie at that. It's somewhere in the middle. Very average. The biggest, of very few, somewhat redeeming qualities was the special effects. The monsters looked great! To bad they were overwhelmingly used as backdrop props, looking like a herd of buffalo at times. I'll never understand why this wasn't just strictly a war movie. It could have been an above average war movie if the money spent on the monster effects had been used for a bigger war setting or better actors. There was just no need for monsters to be roaming in the background of a war movie, never really posing any threat to the characters. I don't know what else to say. Very disappointing.

OK. I think people are being way to harsh on the movie. I mean I watch a lot of films and I've seen nothing but mediocre and trash in the last 2 weeks. When I saw this i wasn't blown away nor was it as good as the first. That being said, this is an entirely different movie. I was never bored. If anything it kept me pretty edgy. The movie had a feeling of dread. No. It isn't a horror movie, neither was the first one. I considered it a science fiction movie and a war movie. I'm going to check it out again. I think anyone who is tying to decide to watch it or not. Then skip all the opinions from strangers and just watch it. I loved the first Monsters and had big expectations for the sequel and I wasn't disappointed. I find science fiction fans can be harsh sometimes just like horror fans. Movies are personal. What one finds sucky another may find gold.not to mention the movie stayed in my head the next day. That says something.

I don't understand why people give this movie (and the standalone prequel) so much hate. Who wants yet another monster disaster movie shoved in your face? Both Monsters movies heavily focus on human interaction and the development of the main characters when put in extreme circumstances. With regards this film specifically - what the main characters go through mentally could easily be mirrored by actual soldiers overseas today but the fact that the main enemy is not of this world, puts a different and interesting perspective on war. Yet what I think Monsters is trying to say, is that the truth is still the same. This movie is littered with ambiguity and symbolism - do the aliens symbolize terrorism or something else altogether? Who knows. The point is, this movie lets you make up your own mind without giving you any definitive answers - contrary to most films today, that plainly dictate what the audience should think or feel. Monsters is absolutely stunning visually and has a soundtrack to match. I think it's only downfall, and that of its predecessor, is how it was advertised. Maybe this was done on purpose but I think it is the main cause of the majority of its bad reviews. If you want to go watch an action packed disaster movie, don't bother watching. And definitely don't bother writing a bad review. It's boring.