Monster! Monster?

3 out of 5 stars.

Strong plot about a guy who gets accused of robbing and murdering a store clerk. Great performances. But dull and tedious direction that gets boring after a while.

The film is okay, but the lead is superior to it. The cast in general is superb, but the writing is not. Others here have made excellent observations, so I won't spend time on that other than the annoyance of many questions never resolved. I felt this is a case for reasonable doubt all along, yet never addressed in the narrative. It's not a bad film, just not great. I do want to celebrate the lead actor, Kelvin Harrison: a striking and brilliantly talented young actor whose career I will be following closely.

This is an excellent movie. Good script. Skilled -restrained-measured acting but talented cast. The story depicts the nightmare feared by so many parents and kids caught in complicated communities. Watch it.

This is one of those movies where it's all about the execution. The story is something that we've seen before, but it's the way they execute this story that makes it an original watch. Because our main character is a future movie director, he guides us through the story with a very interesting point of view. The way he narrates the story might be a little on the nose at times, but it does give a very fresh perspective on a familiar story. Something that also made a good impression were the performances. Especially Kelvin Harris Jr. Gives a very good performance that shows the heartwarming, but also the darker moments of his teenage life. The direction is something that was a bit questionable at times. The way it uses the flashbacks and forward where easy to follow, but a bit out of place at times. There were also some side stories that didn't really go anywhere and little errors that kept me out of the story, but it did bring it home in the end. I became very invested in the story and that made the ending very nerve racking. All in all, a familiar story with a very interesting point of view.

Despite the star-studded cast of vastly talented, and most times undervalued artists, what I love most about Monster is that the film paid its true creator all the praises. Based on Dean Myers' book, the screenwriter allowed the author to speak for and through the film, and to the point where watching it, at times, felt as if I was in a small book store with my eyes closed, listening to one of the greatest writers in American history paint an image of a simple life in Harlem that could easily have been my own.