The end of the world has become such a sci-fi cliché that (like time travel and alien invasions) it has already been recycled in every possible hue. From reflective tragedy ('The Road') to bombastic action adventure ('Mad Max: Fury Road'), passing through drama with a message ('Children of Men') or, of course, comedy with varied doses of romanticism.
For example, in 'Welcome to Zombieland', the zombie apocalypse and all its clichés, stolen from 'The Walking Dead' and other modern classics of the genre, are accompanied by the parody of the conventions of the end of the world (assault of stores, bewilderment at the loss of value of material things). A slight romantic plot takes over the plot in the last section, in a curious counterpoint to 'Monsters', a much more emotional adventure with kaijus destroying civilization in the background, while the lovers move to the foreground.
Love and Monsters, which can be seen on Netflix, combines elements of both: it moves the emotional to the foreground, with monsters and action complementing the story, but never forgets the comedy and light tone. In this case, a boy madly in love with his girlfriend before the disaster decides to go on a dangerous week-long journey on foot through a terrain full of monsters to reunite with her. Along the way, of course, he will learn about himself and the world around him and become a true hero.
Nothing new here, and that is its main virtue: 'Love and Monsters' embraces the cliché, and does so with great grace. A bumbling, good-hearted hero, but thanks to Dylan O'Brien's stupendous performance, he manages without difficulty to make the viewer empathize with his pitiful epic. That piece of machinery is what makes it so that, even though most of the film consists of O'Brien wandering with a dog through deserted landscapes, the film holds up perfectly.
'Love and Monsters' may be silly, but it knows how to take its own fiction very seriously. The monsters are splendidly crafted, in a very cool blend of childlike giant bug fantasy and mutant nightmare. And they look on screen as if they were giant muppets, which is what giant monsters should always look like, despite being computer-animated. The protagonist's encounters with the swamp salamander, the inevitable final boss or the sensational subterranean wasp are ones that remain in the memory once the film is over.
The dramatic side of the film is not very consistent, but it is sustained thanks to the tremendous ingenuity of the protagonist, who runs to meet his youthful love after seven years without seeing her, and with an apocalypse in between. His enthusiasm is infectious, as is his panic of danger and his sincere affection for the four-legged friend he makes along the way. All thanks to a good script by Brian Duffield, to whom we owe recent fantastic cult pieces like 'The Babysitter' or 'Underwater'.
Although the gears of the film are greased with clichés, the splendid cast of supporting actors works perfectly, and give the adventure three-dimensionality. The best are the two experienced nomads played by Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt (curiously, we have recently seen them in the Marvel Universe giving life to Yondu and the child Gamora), who interact hilariously and emotionally with the protagonist.
'Love and Monsters' is a film that's easy to love: its characters fall in love quickly, it's brimming with action and good jokes, and it puts forward an optimistic and good-natured message. Because post-apocalypse doesn't always have to be grime, bad things and dust clouds. Sometimes the opposite is the really hard thing to tell, and it's worth it that there are movies that try.
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