Monsters and Men

Sadly this happens.

Hopefully one day it will cease to.

A young man films the shooting of an unarmed black man by police officers in New York. This sparks a broader reaction in the community.

This is a very topical and important subject. However, the film lacks real power and emotional impact. The ending is unfulfilling.

I was very excited to see this film and it certainly did not disappoint. A film of this kind is as relevant as they come and is up there in the ranks of other films with similar themes this year, such as Blindspotting and Black KkKlansman.

Manny, played by Hamilton's Anthony Ramos, records and looks on helplessly as his friend (who is African American) is shot and killed by the police. The killing has a ripple effect on the community and a plethora of citizens make their voices heard on the matter. Manny is just a family man who is trying his best to get by and provide for his family, but he ultimately puts his future in jeopardy to raise awareness of his friend's death.

John David Washington portrays Dennis Williams, a black police officer who has himself received questionable treatment from other police officers while off duty. He understands people being upset about the police killing, but he also feels that those people don't understand what it is like to be a cop, what it's like "out on the streets." The decision to have a black police officer as one of the lead characters was a great idea, as we get more than just one perspective.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. portrays Zyrick, a young and promising baseball player who decides to get involved in the fight by raising his voice along with so many others. Zyrick's father's desire is for him to reach baseball stardom, to leave the cruel streets behind him and achieve his wildest dreams, to not wind up shot on the streets like the man mentioned. This film is really about three characters and how their lives transpire after the shooting, and Zyrick was probably my favorite.

The ending to this film was the icing on the cake, brilliantly conveyed. There were several scenes in the film that emitted so much power, and the performances were fantastic. This film isn't one-sided and that's what I love about it; you get the story told from a police officer and from people on the other side. If you want to see a human story and a relevant theme told from different perspectives, go see this.

"Monsters and Men" (2018 release; 05 min.) brings the story of three black men. As the movie opens, a black guy (we later learn his name is Dennis) in his car is pulled over for no apparent reason. After the cops check his driver's license, they tell him "sorry to bother you, you are good to go", but what the cops don't know is that Dennis is a copy himself (off duty at that time). We then get to know Manny, who is filling out a job application to become a building security guard. After coming back home in Brooklyn, he notices a commotion, and comes close, filming the whole thing. A black guy in a store is surrounded by 6 or 7 cops. At some point a shot is fired and the black guy is killed. Later on, Manny struggles whether to release the footage. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie. In the third story line much later in the movie, we get to know Zyrich, a high school baseball phenom. To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the feature-length debut from writer/director Reinaldo Marcus Green. Here he tackles an all too familiar topic these days: police brutality, in particular white cop against unarmed black man. It is very easy to fall in the trap of stereotypes (all cops are bad!!!), which this film thankfully avoids (unlike another recent movie--more on that later) hence credit must go to Green for providing a more nuanced perspective. In that sense, Dennis (the black cop) plays the most important role in the movie, and the casting of John David Washington is a stroke of genius, as he is outstanding, just as he was in "BlackkKlansman" earlier this year. Washington brings Dennis as an earnest guy who tries his best in a difficult environment. The story line of Manny is also top notch. So far, so good. Alas, the last third of the movie, centering around HS baseball phenom Zyrich falters badly. I see what Green is trying to do but it simple does not feel authentic or credible. But overall I still quite liked the film. This is in stark contrast to that other recent "white cop brutality against unarmed black man" themed movie, "The Hate U Give", in which there literally isn't a single decent white person (let alone a cop) in the movie and all African-Americans are 'good' (but for the token black drug king). By all means stay far away from "The Hate U Give".

"Monsters and Men" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival to good acclaim. It recently opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The early evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening as in: I was literally the only person in the theater. Hopefully this movie will garner a wider audience when it becomes available on more platforms. If you are interested in important social issues that are brought in a nuanced manner, I'd readily suggest you check out "Monsters and Men", be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Watch "Fruitvale Station" (2013) instead of this rather tedious picture about police brutality. "Fruitvale Station" has got much more gut power and a far better coherent story about police brutality. The problem with "Monsters and Men" is that it force feeds a righteous message about police brutality. Everybody knows there is police brutality, but that fact doesnt make this movie interesting by simply repeating over and over again that the police are bad and that the victims are saints, using violins and soft focus photography. Too many violins at specific scenes felt forced. I dont like it when I get cued to feel sentimental NOW and NOW, because of a sudden overdose of violins and soft focus photography when a dad is playing with his children.

There is no real drama either, which is remarkable because the subject of police brutality has tons of it available, but the director somehow managed to turn this interesting subject of police violence into a somewhat tedious story. It starts out promising, but it is definitely lacking punch in the middle, because suddenly the leading character gets replaced by another and later on by another. Too bad this movie has got a whopping 3 different stories to tell, which only further weakens the power of this already rather slow movie.

Watch the brilliant and shocking "Fruitvale Station" (2013) instead of this slow (soft) surrogate...