In 2010, writer/director Gareth Edwards released the indie sci-fi flick Monsters, which received varied responses as the film leaned more toward romance than action (read our review). Though Edwards has moved on to direct bigger budgeted monster movies like Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla, director Tom Green (Misfits) explores the established world of Monsters in which alien creatures arrived and began inhabiting certain areas of Earth.
While its predecessor was criticized for a lack of action in favor of the human story, Monsters: Dark Continent delves into another alien-infested region of the world – the Middle East – and the first full-length trailer teases alien combat as well as giant sand bugs.
Unlike the teaser trailer for Dark Continent, the first full-length look at the film focuses more on the human aspect, which fans of Edwards’ original movie will appreciate. A spoken word poem plays over concurrent scenes of the sequel’s main characters: a group of soldiers stationed in an infected zone of the Middle East. It’s not until the end of the trailer, when the voiceover reaches its final line about “giant sand bugs,” that the creatures of the film are finally revealed.
Originally, Edwards wasn’t sure how involved he would be in the sequel to Monsters, and though he didn’t direct or write Dark Continent, he is slated as the film’s executive producer. Fans of the breakout sci-fi flick can take heart that Edwards hasn’t completely removed himself from the world he created.
From the trailer, it appears Green, along with writer Jay Basu, took criticisms of Monsters to heart and included a more monster-centric plot for those who felt Edwards’ original film was lacking. However, it also seems Dark Continent will keep a similar tone, grounding the movie’s sci-fi premise with strong characters and well-developed relationships.
Perhaps Dark Continent will be able to appease both fans and critics of Monsters, but we’ll have to wait until the film premieres to know for sure. The movie stars Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), Johnny Harris (Snow White and the Huntsman), Nicholas Pinnock (Captain America: The Winter Solider), and Parker Sawyers (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit).
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Monsters: Dark Continent will be out later in 2014.
