Film Review: Monsters: Dark Continent

World War M

 As someone who now tends to watch new cinematic releases from a critical point of view, my number one priority when doing so is to go into a film with an open mind, unaware of what other, and much more highly regarded, film critics have said about something before I get the chance to see it myself. In the case of Monsters: Dark Continent, this fundamental rule was not adhered to, mainly because of the absolute battering the sequel to Gareth Edward's Monsters, was getting from almost everyone (except Empire who seemed to love it), highlighted by its' dismal rating on Rotten Tomatoes of just 21%. What could be so bad about a film combing action and aliens I hear you all scream? Get ready for some answers.

First off, Dark Continent is a much better film than 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. Set a decade after the original, Tom Green's sequel moves away from the quarantined zone of Mexico and into the middle-east, where the US army have set up measures to extinguish the residing creatures whilst combatting a potential spore-like virus that the creatures omit. In an aim to recruit more numbers for this task, a team of four friends from the decrepit area of Detroit are enlisted in order to help aid such a mission but soon find themselves up against more than they bargained for. Much of the complaint over Dark Continent has been the lack of the titular monsters within the films' overlong two-hour runtime, with the film being branded as misleading and false. Sure, the film does have a lack of monster action on screen, but so did the first, and instead of doing a carbon-copy of its' predecessor, Dark Continent, attempts to expand its' monster-ridden universe by progressing into a completely different environment, something of which I felt was bold and courageous, and in my mind paid off. Where the first attempted to highlight not only a relationship between the two leads but an underlying political tone, Dark Continent attempts to highlight the brutal and bloody effects of war and combat, something of which I thought was highly effective, much more than the same notion that was tied in American Sniper. 

Sure, the sheer fact that I am talking about the way the film portrays war instead of how it portrays monsters does seemingly bring the argument of it being misleading to the floor, yet the monsters are there, and there in style, with their design and the CGI looking as flawless as ever. Sure, the film does have some problems in regards to its' length, structure and a whole lot of box ticking in regards to a film based around war, but for the time it was on screen, Monsters: Dark Continent was rather enjoyable. It may yet crawl its' way out of all the negativity surrounding it. I hope so anyway. 

Overall Score: 7/10