Monsters: Dark Continent

Name: Monsters: Dark Continent
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, War
Released: April 17, 2015
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 42
Cast: Joe Dempsie, Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Sofia Boutella

2015

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Ratings

See All

4.3

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4.3	Your Score
4.3	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Monsters: Dark Continent

Now Playing: Monsters: Dark Continent

Movie Details & Credits

RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: April 17, 2015 | R

Starring: Joe Dempsie, Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley, Sofia Boutella

Summary: An American platoon stationed in the Middle East is thrust into battle with a new breed of Aliens.

Director: Tom Green

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 119 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Empire Kim Newman

Apr 16, 2015

An unconventional sequel to an unconventional film, this works as a standalone picture with its own distinctive take on alien invasion but also expands what now seem like a franchise with potential to deliver more and varied snapshots of human behaviour in extreme circumstances. Read full review

Leslie Felperin

Apr 16, 2015

Whatever the filmmakers' subtextual intentions may be, the film certainly gets stronger and more compelling as it goes on, thanks in part to intense emoting on the part of its cast, with Harris, Keeley and especially Soller standing out particularly. Read full review

Neil Smith

Apr 28, 2015

Ambitiously staged and impressively shot, Monsters: Dark Continent makes a bold stab at mounting a franchise but lacks the vision and surprise of its predecessor. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Apr 16, 2015

Though the sequel features far more footage of the giant beasts, including a spectacular nighttime scene in which one of the bioluminescent creatures ejects phosphorescent spores into the desert sky, the story remains stubbornly focused on relatively uninteresting human concerns. Read full review

Martin Tsai

Apr 16, 2015

Whereas the original "Monsters" was a road movie about an odd couple fleeing an alien-infested zone, "Dark Continent" cribs from contemporary war movies like "The Hurt Locker" and "American Sniper," then tosses in extraterrestrials as an afterthought. Read full review

Katie Rife

Apr 15, 2015

Here, the monsters are entirely incidental to the story. Instead we are forced to sit through 119 punishing minutes of what plays like a dorm-room answer to modern war films, complete with the constant profanity and masculine hysterics that pass for impact in an immature script. Read full review

The Playlist Oliver Lyttelton

Apr 16, 2015

A sour, tedious and derivative film that doesn't just prove disappointing in its own right, it actively makes us resent the first film retroactively for inspiring it. Read full review

SEE ALL 8 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Xocoyotl

Feb 19, 2021

Such a great movie, intense acting, and emotional. This movie is for smart people, so of course most reviews are from people looking for eye candy.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Timbaros

Sep 9, 2015

The highly successful 2010 film 'Monsters' saw the arrival of giant tentacled monsters to Earth. It's sequel 'Monsters: Dark Continent' has five army men in a Middle East war zone who are attempting to deal with an insurgency, and dealing with these monsters as well. It's explosive andThe highly successful 2010 film 'Monsters' saw the arrival of giant tentacled monsters to Earth. It's sequel 'Monsters: Dark Continent' has five army men in a Middle East war zone who are attempting to deal with an insurgency, and dealing with these monsters as well. It's explosive and shattering.

The monsters have now spread worldwide, and in the middle east a new war has begun, and at the same time there has been an increase of monsters in that region - which is called the Infected Zone. The army has brought in many new recruits to deal with both the insurgency and to help kill the monster population. Four of the recruits, all from Detroit, Michigan, and all best friends, are given a special mission: to rescue soldiers who have been lost in the Infected Zone. It's the men's first tour of duty, and for Michael (Sam Keeley), Frankie (Joe Dempsie), Inkelaar (Kyle Soller), and Williams (Parker Sawyers), they must also deal with the monsters while at the same time battling the enemy. They are all excited, yet extremely nervous to be part of this mission, especially Williams as he has become a new father. Their assignment gets all the more intense when they meet their commanding office Frater (Johnny Harris), a veteran of nine tours and a hard core military man, who is estranged from his family. Michael is the most impressionable, and youngest of the bunch, he's totally stunned and shocked when he sees the monsters for the first time from the helicopter him and his crew arrive on. It's a stunning sight, seeing those monsters while the army's fighter planes dropping bombs on them.

They men are these for a mission, to search for some soldiers who have gone missing. So thus begins their journey into the unknown, fearful not just of the enemy, but also of the monsters. They encounter IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices), which kill a couple of the men, while seriously injuring Williams. But their journey has just begun, not all of them survive. They must put up with sniper fire, being captured and interrogated, escaping and enduring long and brutal journeys in the desert where they encounter dead bodies in a school bus, and at the same time staying way clear of the monsters. The monsters, huge, with very large tentacled hands and face, are a scary backdrop to a film that makes it clear that fighting a war in enemy territory is scary enough.

Tom Green, making his directorial debut (he previously had directed episodes of the television programme Misfits, which starred Keeley), and Executive Producer Gareth Edwards (who wrote and directed the first 'Monsters' film) have created a film that is both scary and stunning. War is brutal enough, but they expose us to the deadly silence of not just the enemy but also of the monsters. As soldiers who must carry on, all the actors are brilliant. Harris as commanding officer Frater is brilliant - he truly wants to go back home to be reunited with his father but he's a staunch army man who must complete his mission. Keeley as Michael is the film's heart and soul - he's being exposed to the world and this is it: his innocence is being taken away from him, he goes from being a young man to a hardened soldier. From the dessert landscape to the deserted villages, from the lush scenery and sunsets to the terrifying appearance of the monsters, 'Monsters: Dark Continent' is a sight to behold. And the music, by Neil Davidge, adds an acute tenseness to the film. 'Monster: Dark Continent' is bone-chillingly scary and beautiful at the same time.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

kf62w6

Jun 7, 2015

Monsters: Dark Continent was pretty good. Good story telling and story line. The directing is not so good I really don't know what the director was trying to do in some of the scenes but other than that I enjoyed it. It would have been better if they would have spent more on the "Monsters" plot.

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

Devilmath

Sep 27, 2015

Unexpectedly, Monsters: Dark Continent was one of the most disappointing titles presented at the London Film Festival last October. It follows brilliant British sci-fi flick Monsters (2010), directed by then newcomer Gareth Edwards (who went on to direct Godzilla in 2014 and is alreadyUnexpectedly, Monsters: Dark Continent was one of the most disappointing titles presented at the London Film Festival last October. It follows brilliant British sci-fi flick Monsters (2010), directed by then newcomer Gareth Edwards (who went on to direct Godzilla in 2014 and is already working on a Star Wars spin-off due in 2016), and it’s the perfect example of an unnecessary sequel; its level of failure reminds of flops like Jurassic Park 3, Basic Instinct 2 and Speed 2. Considering that Edwards had a 500.000$ budget for Monsters, and all CGI effects were made with his laptop, some criticism for lack of action in the film was inevitable. To please the audience, Dark Continent stages the main plot in the Middle East. The evergreen conflict between the U.S. army and generic Arab insurgents gives director Tom Green the chance to show off badass soldiers, air-strikes, gunfights with automatic weapons, dying people and the likes. Unfortunately, Green doesn’t strike as a particularly gifted action director; using the shaky-cam everytime someone fires a bullet is a trick we’ve seen a hundred times too many. Almost nothing remains of the strong character introspections and dynamics, and the thought-provoking (albeit subtle) alien presence seen in Edwards’ original feature.

Ten years after Andrew and Samantha’s journey through the “infected” Mexican area, the aliens have spread to the sandy Middle Eastern countries, where the U.S. are engaged in combat with the locals. As more soldiers are being drafted to face the increasing menaces, Frankie (Joe Dempsie), Michael (Sam Keeley), and their bromantic macho friends decide to leave the squalid suburbs of Detroit, and give purpose to their lives by joining the army. Their experience in the theatre of war is shocking and painfully eye-opening; the threatening presence of huge tentacular monsters (constantly bombed by American jets) adds to the level of danger and violence in the area. Set for a desperate rescue mission, the group of friends, led by war-junkie official Noah Frater (Johnny Harris), finally realises that Detroit wasn’t too bad after all. The plot unfolds in the most predictable way; if you’ve seen Battle Los Angeles (2011) or Black Hawk Down (2001), expect nothing different (apart from the heard of roaring aliens in the background). You might find some amusement in placing bets on who will die next, but that only works if you can actually tell the characters apart.

Unlike Monsters, Dark Continent completely misses out on the opportunity for a revealing moment of redemption. Gareth Edwards’ film was a progressive metaphor of the immigration issue between Mexico and the U.S.A., with a militarised wall built alongside the border to keep the aliens from trespassing. The moral was that the so-called monsters were no different from us human beings: they needed enough resources to survive, and only attacked other creatures if attacked first (on a second thought, they are clearly better than us human beings). How timely and mature would it have been for Dark Continent to adapt this metaphor to the difficult relationship between the U.S. and the Arab world! It could have been a great message of peace, showing that the Middle East is not inhabitated by monsters but by fellow human beings. Sadly, the film never even touches the subject, preferring to rely exclusively on its warmongering mumbo-jumbo, undefined characters, pointless aliens, unbearable soundtrack and prosaic story.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

LeZee

Sep 29, 2016

Fighting terrorist in the midst of monsters invasion.

I am surprised for the production quality. It was comparable to those big productions, so no doubt the visuals played its part accurately. Then what makes this film bad? Well, the story is the biggest issue here. It is a confusionFighting terrorist in the midst of monsters invasion.

I am surprised for the production quality. It was comparable to those big productions, so no doubt the visuals played its part accurately. Then what makes this film bad? Well, the story is the biggest issue here. It is a confusion screenplay, not for the viewers, but seems for the writers. Looks they don't know how to develop and end it with their decent opening. It was more focused on the military operation than conflict between the man and the monsters. How come when monsters taking over the earth is not considered a threat, but fighting terrorism becomes the main preference. The same thing applies to the terrorists as well.

No way near to the original. In fact, I don't know is it appropriate to tag it as a sequel to a film that earned a decent fame. The title says 'Dark Continent', but it takes place in the middle-east. Maybe it was the northern Africa, anyway, there's no clear picture about the location. This is the director's first feature film, but it was not a bad direction. The actors did decently as well and again, it is the story that bothered me. I feel it is an unnecessary sequel, so I say don't bother to watch it, because it is not worth, unless you can take a chance to find yourself how bad it is.

3.5/10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

RealityBytes

Jul 14, 2015

This movie is horrible. I actually watched it through to the end, mistakenly thinking it had to get better. I was wrong. Besides the strangely disjointed 'emotional' moments, there is virtually nothing in the movie involving its namesake, the Monsters. The so-called story is pretty much justThis movie is horrible. I actually watched it through to the end, mistakenly thinking it had to get better. I was wrong. Besides the strangely disjointed 'emotional' moments, there is virtually nothing in the movie involving its namesake, the Monsters. The so-called story is pretty much just a few scenes taken from much better war movies. At one point in the movie, a wound actually changes sides on the actor's body, which tells me they didn't even have anyone paying attention during editing. Unless you want to watch something even more boring than reality TV, give this one a pass.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

Modernman

Jan 21, 2020

I didn't expect much, just an alien/military action movie that would be plenty entertaining. But this movie really had no clue what it wanted to be.

The movie is incredibly long and filled with excessive amounts of disjointed, forced emotional scenes for the cardboard characters (note: justI didn't expect much, just an alien/military action movie that would be plenty entertaining. But this movie really had no clue what it wanted to be.

The movie is incredibly long and filled with excessive amounts of disjointed, forced emotional scenes for the cardboard characters (note: just because you invest a huge amount of time on emotional montages doesn't actually make the characters have depth) which just makes it drag on, paired with the most over-done checklist for a war movie ever and clearly done without even bothering to consult with anyone who actually served.

It's like the Hurt Locker meets The Battle for Haditha, oh and there's aliens thrown in for no reason and feels like a decision forced on the director (maybe by pretending it was a sequel to a good movie was necessary to get the movie made) who wanted to make the most generic, cliched war movie possible.

That was 2 hours of my life I'll never get back. I kept going when I read Sofia Boutella was in it thinking she could add some life to the movie but I should have just cut my loses.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 9 REVIEWS