If you’re looking for some good monster-battling, give this one a miss. Oh, the monsters are there, originally designed and beautifully rendered, but they get only about 10 minutes’ screen time in this two-hour-long, maudlin, overacted, and not very interesting sequel to the so-so 2010 film.

It’s as though first-timer Tom Green really, really wanted to make his, you know, deeper version of The Hurt Locker, but this creature feature was all he could land. So it’s American soldiers tediously battling Middle Eastern insurgents with the almost-forgotten title beings hovering on the horizon. Snore. Japanese title: Monsters: Shinshu Shuurai. (119 min)