I rented the movie on iTunes which somehow had it available to rent 1 month before it came to the theaters. I had seen the trailer, but unlike other reviewers, I knew this was a low budget movie and did not expect a special effects extravaganza. I have Skyline and Super8 to look forward to for that. In this movie, as expected, the monsters mostly stay off screen and provide the backdrop for the story. As a result Monsters feels like it could have been shot by an earlier, low-budget era Spielberg.

I did not find the love story convincing and the ending was too abrupt, but I did like the general mood and the unexpected storyline. By unexpected, I don’t mean that the story is not predictable. I started suspecting the direction the movie would take when they reached the quarantine zone border, but it was definitely fully unexpected when I started the movie and untraditional for an alien invasion movie.

It’s well worth seeing, but don’t go in expecting to see Independence Day.