Monsters: Dark Continent, film review: Random plotting and jarring changes in tone

(15) Tom Green, 121 mins. Starring: Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Joe Dempsie

Gareth Edwards' cult hit from 2010 makes for very murky viewing

This sequel to Gareth Edwards' cult hit from 2010 makes for very murky viewing. At times, its plotting is random and close to incomprehensible. The film starts with a portentous voiceover vaguely reminiscent of that of Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now.

The hero (Sam Keeley) is a youngster from the wrong side of the tracks in Detroit who joins the US army to escape a life of crack and criminality. He is sent with his friends to fight in some unspecified desert war. Their mission is to rescue a lost patrol while putting a bullet in as many monsters as they can.

There are some very jarring changes in tone. At times, this appears to be a war movie, shot in dirty realist fashion with lots of machismo and hand-held camerawork. Then, out of nowhere, the MTRs (as the monsters are nicknamed) will appear, clanking through the sand like gigantic Meccano robots.

There are some inventive moments along the way – a "dog fight" involving a bulldog and a baby monster, a lyrical scene of monster spores drifting through the air – but these are interspersed with lots of posturing, yelling and brawling as the US soldiers confront the even more brutal local insurgents.