A wonderful fairytale

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2020)

Though not typically a fan of romance in movies, the fantastical elements of this film and occasionally corny tone made this film very engaging for me. With this cornyness, inherent to the fairytale nature and 60's aesthetic, comes a breeze of simplistic story telling that does nothing more or less than captivate.
I felt for each and every character in this movie, including some sympathy for Michael Shannon's grizzly government agent with questionable ethics. His character, though obviously dubious, faces some troubles that make him relatable in a way that make us understand why he does everything he does even if we disagree with those things.
But the stars of the show really are the Creature and Sally Hawkings, who both give sincere and honest portrayals of their likeable roles. The movie could not have worked without them putting on a good show and they thankfully did.
My only complaint is that the subplot with the KGB agent was quite weak. I feel as though having that character just be a normal scientist who isn't a Russian spy would have saved some more time to focus on more character stuff, or just made the movie slightly shorter. In the end it felt unnecessary to have him be a spy as all the agents die anyway. Aside from that subplot, however, I liked the rest of the other characters and their mini-plots.
I would recommend this film to fans of this director, classic 50's monster flicks and anyone looking to broaden their horizons; Like I said I'm not a fan of romance films, but very much enjoyed this one. 7/10.