Monsters of Man
| Monsters of Man | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Mark Toia |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Mark Toia |
| Edited by | Kram Aiot |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | High Octane Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 131 minutes |
| Countries | Australia Cambodia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~$1,000,000 |
| Box office | $6,854 |
Monsters of Man is an Australian science fiction indie film written and directed by Australian cinematographer and director Mark Toia about an amoral robotics team field testing their military robot in the Golden triangle hunting drug traffickers, with a CIA major evaluating their effectiveness.
Plot
[edit]A robotics company is given the opportunity by a rogue CIA Major (Neal McDonough) to bid on a lucrative military contract.[1][2][3][4][5]
The company illegally airdrops four prototype robots into the middle of the Golden triangle in Cambodia to perform a live field test on unsuspecting drug traffickers.[1][2] A group of young way-lost volunteer doctors witness the robots killing an entire village and on command by the Robotics CEO become hunted by the robots to cover up the sales pitch mission.[3][1][2] What the CIA didn't know is that Mason (Brett Tutor), a former Navy SEAL, was living in the village, and seeks to defend the surviving villagers against the robots.[2]
From a nearby village the team of robotics engineers, Kroger, Fielding and Jantz, are remotely witnessing the outright slaughter of men, women, children alike. Not being told indisciminate killing was part of the test [2], the techs are thinking to pull out, but with a little help from their CIA-handler Boller (Jose Rosete) threatening their lives and the lives of their families, they go through with the field test, though not without great pride in their achievement.
The robot BR4 (Conrad Pratt) had a bad landing coming down, and while showing signs of self-awareness and being able to overtake its fellow robots on contact, it resist the robotics teams's attempts at shutdown and self-destruct. As the team boss and CIA-colonels jointly decide to preserve BR4's changing core setting, Boller leaves for the rainforest to fix things, while the robotics team sets the other robots hunting the rogue robot, as it is attempting to connect to the internet to make a digital backup of itself and thus escape the jungle.[2]
Surviving doctors and villagers led by Mason attempt to both evade and eliminate the robots, no knowing Boller is sent after BR4 to try and mark it for a drone strike, which will kill any surviving witnesses. Ultimately BR4 learns the importance of life and activates its self-destruction to protect the surviving humans, blasting Boller and the last operational robot.
At the end the CIA colonel calls the operation a "complete fucking mess" to which the Robotics chief replies: "I think they did quite well. Three units racked up 37 kills. Including a higly trained NAVY Seal and a rogue unit. Not to mention up to 8 unidentified targets, over 3 days through unsurveyed, unmapped mine saturated territory with no satellite support? No air support, no ground support. From my perspective the test was a massive success."
Cast
[edit]- Neal McDonough as Major
- Brett Tutor as Mason
- Jose Rosete as Boller
- David Haverty as Kroger
- Paul Haapaniemi as Jordan
- Ryan Hough as Jantz
- Ly Ty as Leap
- Ma Rynet as Keala
- Kayli Tran as Tien
- Jessica Blackmore as Fielding
- Jordy Tulleners as Dez
- Tatjana Marjanovic as Wendy
- Conrad K. Pratt as Bao and BR4
- David Samartin as Foster
- Trong Kam as Prak
Production
[edit]A passion project of its creator Mark Toia, the film was partially funded by an Indiegogo campaign, however, Toia would self finance the bulk of the movie (A$1.6 million) from money he made in property investment.[1][6] This would be Toia's first and only movie, who had been a successful director for commercials in his native Australia.[2][4] Toia, then 56, stated that the idea for the movie came to him while he was recording a Nescafe commercial in Vietnam and had floated the script for a year in the United States before ultimately deciding to just make the film himself.[6] Toia also stated that Monsters of Man was a proof of concept that commercial directors can direct feature films, with Toia going out his way to hire commercial veterans for the crew.[6]
Most of the motion capture work for the robots Toia helped develop and as such despite the small budget and indie size, the computer effects were professional quality.[4] Toia stated that if he wasn't so proficient in CGI, it was likely the film would have cost $2 or $3 million more.[4]
BR4, the sentient robot, was designed to be similar to Chappie in a "not cute sort of way", at one point dissecting a human to better understand the meaning of life.[2] Monsters of Man would be filmed in Cambodia, and cast locals for the villagers.[2] The bulk of the film was shot in Tahan village in Siem Reap province.[7] There is a mid credits scene that shows BR4 had successfully uploaded itself to the internet and points towards a sequel, however, Toia would die in 2023 following a short-illness.[2][8][7]
Toia stated that he didn't care if the film made back its budget: "I decided that if I was going to do a movie, I'd just do my own just for more of a therapy, relaxation type thing. And it was therapeutic. Because we funded it ourselves, I didn't have to listen to anyone."[6] Toia also had praise for Ma Rynet, stating that “She is fantastic and I wouldn’t hesitate to put her in another movie if I was to ever shoot one in Cambodia again.”[7]
Release
[edit]Monsters of Man would have a short and limited theatrical release before it was made available to stream and on DVD by High Octane Films on December 8, 2020.[2]
Reception
[edit]The quality of the CGI used for the robots was praised as being "better than a lot of blockbusters", but with critics saying the movie was longer than it needed to be, and few of the doctors were particularly memorable.[1][2][9]
Simon Foster, director of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival described the film as "Robocop meets Predator"[6] Foster would select the film to open that years Festival.[10]
Neal McDonough was praised for his role as a villain, adding "star power" to a cast of mostly unknowns.[1] Conrad K. Pratt would be praised for his role as Bao, one of the doctors, and as the man in mocap playing the four robots.[11]
Monsters of Man would top the iTunes charts after its release.[10] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the film was not shown in any other festivals.[10]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Monsters of Man (2020) Review". The Action Elite. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Morazzini, Jim. "Monsters of Man (2020) Review". Voices from the Balcony. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- 1 2 Elderkin, Beth. "In Monsters of Man's First Trailer, Robots Engage in Some Criminal War Games". Gizmodo. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 Seymour, Mike. "Monsters By One Man". fxguide. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- ↑ "VFXShow 254: Monsters of Man". fxguide. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Maddox, Garry. "Maverick Aussie director puts up $1.6m of his own money for killer robot movie". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- 1 2 3 Raksmey, Hong. "Robots invade the Kingdom in Monsters of Man". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- ↑ "Vale much-loved TVC and film director Mark Toia – "This giant of a man had the softest heart ever"". campaignbrief.co.nz. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- ↑ "Monsters of Man, Neal McDonough, (Sci-Fi/Horror Movie Review)". JoBlo. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- 1 2 3 Maddox, Garry. "The self-funded Australian sci-fi film topping iTunes charts". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- ↑ Bhank, Christofer. "Asian-American LGBTQ+ Actor Slays Stereotypes in Monsters of Man". PR Newswire. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
External links
[edit]- Monsters of Man at IMDb
- Wiki Commons image of subtitles
