Gloria; an unemployed and borderline alcoholic young woman, who loves to party is kicked out of the New York apartment she shares with her fed up boyfriend Tim. She moves back to her hometown of Mainhead, New Hampshire, and quickly rekindles a friendship with her childhood friend Oscar.
Meanwhile, a terrifying building sized Alien is wrecking havoc on Seoul, South Korea.
When Gloria discovers that the alien always arrives when she is in a certain park, she discovers she is the monster – and has caused the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people. When she tries to undo the damage that has been done a mysterious building sized robot is appearing too – who seems to revel in causing damage. So, who is the robot?
Cast/Characters
Anne Hathaway plays Gloria, and delivers quite a nuanced performance. I went in not knowing all the themes that were going to occur, and her arc from rock bottom alcoholic, to independent woman is well written. The scenes in which she sees the devastation she has caused is heartbreaking as she shows almost traumatized at what she has done.
Jason Sudeikis plays Oscar, who becomes the primary antagonist. While Gloria is horrified of her act – Oscar celebrates his attacks. He does a wonderful job at showing manipulative menace – not just vocal, but also physical with a hint of Sudeikis’ comedic timing (such as the fireworks in the bar scene).
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
A surprising mix of drama, as well as monster movie. Gloria is a wonderfully written protagonist, who has hit rock bottom when the film begins. She self recovers from her addictions of alcohol – at the same time as growing her confidence and independence away from the toxic relationships she is used to.
She also distances herself away from two men; Tim – who throws her out, wanting nothing to do with her (and then demanding to know her plans), and Oscar – who becomes the primary antagonist of the film – and the person behind the robot.
The conflict between Gloria and Oscar starts quite early, and is the primary theme of the film. At times it is quite brutal between them, not just emotional but physical at times as they ‘fight’ as their alien counterparts fight too. It was quite confronting that Oscar happily beat up Gloria (as the robot beats up the alien).
A brilliant screenplay all round, written by the director Nacho Vigalondo (who I don’t believe I have come across before, but will be on look out for him in the future).
Score/Soundtrack
A pretty solid score underpins most of the action and drama.
Overall
An unexpectedly well written drama, that delves into such genres like alcoholism, self-destruction and toxic relationships. The ‘monster’ movie element is almost second fiddle to Gloria coming out of her shell and becoming an adult for the first time.
The performances by the two leads are solid, and some great work in such a quirky film. I’d give this one a strong recommend.
4/5
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