'Monster Trucks' Review

The premise of this film is that there is a monster inside of a truck. If you have seen the trailer for this film, you wouldn't be expecting too much from this film. Was I right to not have any hope when going to see this film? Absolutely 

Tripp (Lucas Till) is unsatisfied with his life and only finds joy when working in a car scrapyard. Tripp looks to build a truck so he can leave the town but an accident at a nearby oil drilling area displaces a strange creature that has a taste for oil. The creature makes its way to the scrapyard where it befriends Tripp. Tripp finds a way to get Creech into his truck as the main driving force, giving him a chance to finish his truck. Meanwhile, the creature is being hunted down by the oil company to make sure they don't get shut down.

2016 is almost over and everyone looks to be making up their lists of their best and worst films of the year. Amongst new releases like 'Passengers', 'Collateral Beauty' and even 'Rogue One', Paramount have tried to sneak out their newest film 'Monster Trucks'. As I was thinking about my own worst of the year list, I have held off due to waiting for this - and the other Boxing Day releases - to see if any would sneak in. Spoiler alert, this film will be on the list.

First of all, the story for this movie is absolutely terrible. A monster in a truck is the basic premise for this and what is even more baffling is that it took three people to come up with the story for this film. In saying that, it takes the best part of an hour for the monster to actually become a part of the truck as it builds up uninteresting, unentertaining characters in the process. Films like this amaze me as I really can't understand why a company would waste money on something like this. Even worse when you realise that the budget for this film was $125 million! That's over $75 million more than the budget for Paramount's best film this year 'Arrival' which is astonishing. Paramount must have a lot of money to spare if they can fork out that much for an idea that is quite frankly terrible. Don't get me wrong, the film does have its moments where it is actually pretty funny. But in a so bad it's funny kind of way. A lot of this comes from the lines from some of the actors or inconsistencies within actions of characters which really wasn't the intention.

Lucas Till plays Tripp, a high school senior who sulks all day except for when crushing cars at the scrapyard and working on his truck. To Till's credit, he is probably the best part of this film as he does seem to try- unlike some of the other performances in this film. What lets Till down in the poor script that gives his character some unintentionally hilarious moments and terrible lines of dialogue. There were so many moments during this film where I looked across to my friend who I saw this with and sighed due to how bad the writing in this film was. Jane Levy was fantastic in the disturbing and effective horror 'Don't Breathe' but oh my, she was terrible in this movie. The writing again doesn't help but her delivery was even worse as it was comically bad a lot of the time. Maybe this was just a payday for her - as well as for the likes of Rob Lowe, Danny Glover and Barry Pepper - as the performance was not up to standard at all. The film lacks good characters and the performances are just as bad. When your film is focused on people around a beast that cannot speak, that is a huge problem. 

The film uses both practical and CGI effects to bring the monster's to life in this film and they look awful. The designs are very bland and really aren't that impressive. There are practical effects from the 70's and 80' that look better than what is in this film. What doesn't help the creatures is that there really isn't anything about them. We know that they like oil and that is about it. There is no development with the creatures to make us interested or even care about them. Again, this poses a problem as the film focuses on our protagonists protecting these creatures but there is simply no emotion or attachment to them. Younger ones may enjoy this one a bit more but not a lot due to these creatures not being nearly as fun as intended.

'Monster Trucks' is simply one of the worst films of 2016. The film is filled with poor performances, writing and effects and doesn't deliver on the fun aspect like they intended. There aren't many redeeming qualities with this one and it really isn't worth your time. A very poor film.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Monster Trucks'? If so, what did you think of the film? I hope that this review was helpful for if you were planning on seeing the film or not. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor