Love and Monsters movie review (2020)

Later on, Joel meets two more charming souls, who add character to the saga and not much else. But they share a good comedic chemistry, with Joel still as the clumsy underdog, who learns from the tough-as-nails kid Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt) about how to fire a crossbow, and Clyde (Michael Rooker) the secrets of surviving day by day. During their travels, Michaels spikes the goofiness with a few tense moments, not so much from grand surprise, but a festering dread. Especially as Joel’s flashbacks to seven years ago depict a gruesome end to everyone's loved ones, “Love and Monsters” has a vital sense of danger, mixed with its interest in using O’Brien for some frantic slapstick. 

The script by Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson (with story credit to Duffield) staples together its adventure using voiceover and a whole batch of characters' good timing, but O’Brien’s Joel is a strong guide: he's optimistic, excitable, and always likable. O’Brien helps give the movie a heart, and creates the movie’s need for connection in ways beyond finding his dream girl—he shares an unexpectedly sweet scene with a talking robot, which gives a sense of gravity that helps the later moments when he’s sprinting from an appropriately freaky centipede. “Love and Monsters” has a winning sincerity that helps it move along, even if you become more aware of just how narrow it is. 

Underneath everything, “Love and Monsters” has the feeling of a director auditioning for something of a “Transformers” movie, especially in its third act. The final showdown feels like a tacked-on calling card, but it’s another smoothly executed set-piece of people scrambling during a monster attack, with some hand-to-hand combat thrown in the mix. It’s also a good moment for the film’s sporadic use of practical effects, when all of the crags, slime, and moss on a monster makes them seem even larger in close-up, something you just don’t get from the other CGI creatures that chase people around in this story. 

But even more than for director Matthews, this is O’Brien’s showcase. He makes you believe that Joel is sprinting for his life from some fantastic beasts, and that throwing himself into an apocalypse to combat loneliness is noble enough. “Love and Monsters” openly tells you it’s not overthinking a single component, but with the spectacle of O’Brien’s athletic work, that’s not exactly the end of the world. 

Now available on Premium Video-On-Demand

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46lpq%2BdXZa7pXnMqKWsrJWnwG65zq%2BgnmWimsOqsdZmaWlqYA%3D%3D