Wow. For a film that only cost director Gareth Edwards $15,000 it is sensational.
He has turned his back on giant special effects and cheap jump-out-of-your-seat thrills for a story with a constant sense of uneasy dread.
The set up is - A NASA sample-collecting probe bringing back extraterrestrial organic matter has crashed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere scattering its contents over lower North America.
Six years later, a vast area between Southern Mexico and the U.S. has been declared an infected zone as military from both countries wage a fruitless battle against the ginormous, rapidly reproducing creatures.
A photojournalist (Scoot McNairy) covering the ongoing "war" gets closer than anticipated when he escorts his boss' stranded daughter (Whitney Able) through the no-man's-land to the American border.
The effects, or what you see of them, are outstanding, and the art direction is considerably weather worn and go very far in setting up an established way of life.
And although the lead actors ultimately underplay the love story that develops, to the point of not caring, there is enough here to grab ahold of and spark your imagination.
Grade - B+
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