Film genuine, quality science fiction story

The sci-fi film "Monsters" reaches the bar set by "District 9," for about $30 million less. Gareth Edwards' directorial debut "Monsters," set for a limited release Oct. 29, manages to pull off a great story, convincing special effects and characters that you care about, all on a mere $15,000 budget.

The film was released on iTunes a month before its release date; it is available to rent for $9.99.

The story starts off simply enough, explaining that six years prior, a space probe broke apart over Mexico and aliens took up residency in the "infected zone." The audience is introduced to Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy), a cynical and smarmy photographer working in Mexico for a U.S. magazine. Kaulder is pulled into chauffeuring the daughter of the magazine's owner, Sam Wynden (Whitney Able), back to the States.

Watching this film, I felt the characters were real people. That says a lot about McNairy's and Able's performances. The two had a chemistry from the get-go that just worked. They played off one another's reactions so well that I felt this story could actually be real.

This is one of those movies where the very beginning has everything to do with the end. All I'm going to say is that after the movie ends, think about the night vision sequence at the beginning.

I found the commentary in the movie interesting as well. Most of the talk about keeping the "creatures" in the infected zone involved talk and visuals of fences in Mexico and a gigantic wall along the U.S. border. There was some dialogue within the movie about how building a wall won't stop nature as the aliens migrate to the areas they need to survive; another character responds that it's as if the U.S. is just walling themselves in from the rest of the world.

There's another beautiful moment where you see two creatures communicating or mating, but it's cut short by the sequence that ties back to the beginning of the movie. It's moments like these that make me question whom the title was meant for.

One thing I've never thought I'd say about a giant monster movie is that it's heartfelt, but Gareth Edwards has proved this thought wrong with his directorial debut. "Monsters" is a great journey with genuine moments, yet retains the tension that the overdone, big-budget movies have.