Sci-Fi Romance

Rating: 6/10 (23 December 2017)

I saw "The Shape of Water", starring Sally Hawkins-Paddington, Godzilla_2014; Michael Shannon-Nocturnal Animals, Batman v Superman:Dawn of Justice; Richard Jenkins-Kong:Skull Island, Step Brothers and Octavia Spencer-Hidden Figures, Snowpiercer.
This is a sci-fi romantic movie that is written & directed by Guillermo del Toro-Pacific Rim, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy. It's set in the 1960's when the cold war was going full speed. Sally is a mute janitor-she can hear but not speak-that works at a research facility with Octavia. Michael is a man that captured an aquatic creature in the jungles of the Amazon and has brought it to the facility to have it researched. FYI: The creature looks kind of like the creature from the black lagoon, only more detailed. Michael wants to dissect the creature and find out what makes him tick. Sally befriends the creature-she even teaches it sign language-and wants to save it so she enlists her neighbor and close friend, Richard, along with her co-worker, Octavia to pull off an Ocean's Eleven. There is also a side-plot about the Russians wanting to get their hands on the creature, too-remember, it's the cold war. The creature looks great-he reminded me of Abe Sapien from Hellboy and in fact, the same actor played both parts, Doug Jones-but the story just didn't cut the mustard with me. I could have used more action and less romance.
It's rated "R" for violence, language and sexual content-including nudity-and has a running time of 2 hours & 3 minutes.
It's not one that I'd buy on DVD but it would be alright, as a rental.