An outcast at high school, Tripp (Till) longs to leave his deadend North Dakota town. He works in a scrapyard building a getaway. Then an oil company unearths three huge tentacled creatures with their deep drilling, and one of them hides in Tripp's truck, learning quickly how to propel the vehicle without need of an engine. Tripp's school lab partner Meredith (Levy) gets involved in the craziness, which escalates when the company boss (Lowe) orders his henchman (McCallany) to capture Tripp's monster, and tells chief scientist Bill (Lennon) to kill the two they've captured.

Yes, the story plays loosely with the idea that oil companies are carelessly poisoning the earth to make profits, jeopardising any living thing that gets in the way. Thankfully, the script doesn't force the point, instead just getting on with the mayhem, which is playful and energetic. This is the kind of action movie that makes you smile rather than hang on for dear life. It's funny and cute, with characters you like and nothing terribly dark going on. Even the villains are more bark than bite.

Till anchors the film nicely as vaguely bad boy who gets through to Levy's popular girl. Their chemistry is never overplayed, rolling along as these two young people develop a begrudging respect for each other. Lennon provides comic relief as the emotive scientist. The initial antagonist is initially Pepper's harsh, obsessive stepdad, but he becomes more interesting as Lowe's snarling executive and McCallany's proper baddie emerge. None of this is convincing, but it's enjoyable to just go with it.

Wedge directs the film with nonstop peril that's never terribly scary. No one seems to get hurt, despite endless car-chase chaos with very high levels of vehicular destruction. Instead, it's bright and breezy, building momentum through sheer brio. And with surprisingly seamless effects, Tripp's monster Creatch becomes thoroughly loveable, even if he is a slimy, grey land octopus with teeth. There's nothing terribly sophisticated going on here, but it's so much fun that you almost hope a sequel is already in the works.

themes, violence

18.Dec.16