In retrospect, Gareth Edwards’ 2010 film Monsters looks more like an audition tape for his covertly profound epic Godzilla four years later. He laid the groundwork for his revival of Toho’s iconic kaiju with Monsters, from the sober-minded assessment of how gigantic paranormal beasties might fit into the global political climate to the teasing glimpses of terrible otherworldly might. Edwards smuggled some potent critiques of U.S. border policy by confining the space invaders to a controlled zone in Mexico and then trapping his leads in alien country, with the path to escape winding through sacrifice and personal debasement. Monsters brought a sharper intellect and sure directorial hand to the generally slight creature-feature genre.
In sequel Monsters: Dark Continent, Tom Green (no, not that Tom Green, though he certainly would’ve livened this snoozer up) replaces Edwards in the director’s chair, but sustains the original’s interest in the real-world implications of monster mayhem. Set seven years after the events of the first installment in this unlikely franchise, the film finds the aliens quarantined in the literal minefields of the Middle East, and the figurative minefields of war allegory. That politicized bent is about all that’s been carried over from the original, however. At times, it seems like Dark Continent was conceived as a film all its own and, for the sake of brand recognition, brought under the Monsters banner as an afterthought. Excepting the presence of the same extraterrestrial species, nothing ties this sequel to its source material. Dark Continent doesn’t have any of Monsters’ characters or key creative personnel. It doesn’t have any of its predecessor’s smarts or stylistic competency, either.
Dark Continent is more war picture than sci-fi, taking greater interest in the toils of armed combat than the monsters that give the film its title. And a regrettable title that is; did the key decision-makers not realize what cultural connotations the words “dark continent” evoke? But Green trains his camera on a pair of bros who ship out of Squalid Suburb, USA to serve in the army. The battle occurs on two fronts; in addition to those pesky aliens, an unspecified insurgent group has ignited a terror-driven rebellion in an unspecified Middle Eastern nation. So after a long night of attending wildly unbalanced underground alien-dog fights, snorting blow, and getting their money’s worth from a pair of prostitutes, these two fine young men go to represent America’s interests in a political powder keg. Once they reach their destination, the film turns into something along the lines of American Alien-Sniper, but without the endlessly arguable ethical ambiguity. The men of Dark Continent’s squadron mostly bellow at the local savages in between seshes of bro-talk laced with trace amounts of homophobia and garden-variety stupidity. These scenes are dull as they are offensive, though viewers unfamiliar with a masturbatory aid called the Sybian will find one dialogue particularly informative.
After an ambush, the soldiers spend an extended interlude clinging to survival out in the desert, and it’s here that the film attempts to grow a few brain cells. The men are taken in, fed, and clothed by a family of kind and simple villagers. The family’s generosity and kindness shocks the soldiers, who’ve been raised on a steady diet of rah-rah jingoistic dogma. It’s almost as if the swarthy savages the military has been sent to conquer are actual human beings! Decent as the lesson may be, it’s not especially original (name a war film that doesn’t at least flirt with the notion of the basic humanity shared between both sides) and the film engages with it clumsily. Worse still, the monsters hovering menacingly around the fringes of the film then become a lumbering metaphor, instead of a genuine presence. When the soldiers bear witness to the aliens’ majestic, eerie mating ritual, Green loudly and clearly telegraphs the fact that they’re really learning about the value of life. The following minutes of footage attempt to pass off montages of longing stares set to the wispy strains of post-rock as profundity. It does not work especially well.
Monsters: Dark Continent has little to offer viewers outside of a few moments of charged military tension. At the very least, its creators can take solace in the fact that their film will most likely be seen by a very small number of people, and its badness will remain unknown to the general populace. It’s an embarrassment, but only a semi-public one. Hm. Maybe I don’t know what “solace” means.
