...and very impressively so, that this was an amateur filmmakers first ever dabble with filmmaking! Sure this film had its flaws, but considering Mark Toia has never been a cinematographer, never written, produced, or directed anything in his life before, I say mad respect and serious props to you sir!
So to those wannabe critics who gave this film 1's and 2's, give your heads a shake and learn to respect the work of an amateur filmmaker trying to make his mark in the industry. They all have to start somewhere, right? And I have to point out, that I've seen much worse films put together by seasoned filmmakers. So for Toia to wear these many hats and pull this off, this film should not be rated anything less than a 6/10.
Now my main disappointment that could've so easily been avoided, was Toia's writing. Aside from some of the plot and technical issues (e.g. when you're caught between a rock and a hard place, always take the weapon!), the length of his screenplay's final cut runtime of 131 mins was absurdly long. There were far too many long, dragged out and unnecessary scenes. E.g. when kid's gangster dad dies, the ongoing crying, group hugs and whines was utterly and annoyingly ridiculous. And there were many of those scenes. So when I said "could've so easily been avoided", Toia either needed an experienced editor and/or seasoned writer to look over his script, and cut out at least 20-30 mins. His pacing was actually quite good, that a 90-100 min runtime could've made this film great, instead of just good.
Aside from Neal McDonough and Jose Rosete being the only recognizable and experienced actors, the remaining unknown and unexperienced cast performed impressively well. Sure, some where a little over the top and borderline annoying, but keep in mind they were being guided by an inexperienced director.
The film's location settings were beautiful. The score was actually not bad and fitting, especially considering almost every B film's score is usually unfitting, overbearingly loud and annoying. The S/VFX were on point... I'm mean those robots were "Chappie" quality viewing.
Toia is certainly an upcoming filmmaker to keep an eye out for. Thus with more positives against a few understandably amateur negative mistakes, Toia's Monsters of Man gets a very deserving 8/10 from me. I sure hope with his ending, a Part 2 will get made. To see my review and rating system, or more of my 1000+ reviews, click on my username.
