Monsters and Men

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.

If Monsters and Men were a more incendiary testimony to police brutality, as its title suggests, the audience would be fired up to demonstrate in favor of minorities who have been wronged in "stop-and-frisk" injustices. Fortunately, it's not more volatile; it is rather a thoughtful, albeit measured, rumination on racism and inequality.

Debut director, Reinaldo Marcus Green, takes a careful look at an event that sounds like the death of Eric Garner in 2014 Staten Island. In Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood, Nuyorican Manny (Anthony Ramos) witnesses an innocent youth murdered by a policeman in an all-too frequent stop of young black men. Manny spends the first part of the film tortured about the right thing to do with his evidence.

In a second of three segments, black patrol officer Dennis (John David Washington) is conflicted between his loyalty to the force and his understanding of how the system does not favor black men. Although he's dropped from the rest of the film, he represents the moral quandary about the injustices and the fact that some characters will not follow the usual clichés of these message-type dramas.

The film doesn't so much as preach, either through voiceover or ponderous character, as it shows the daily indignities of young NYC black men in the white-dominated system that makes justice elusive for him and his peers.

In the final segment of the tryptic, Zyric (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) is a gifted young athlete forced by his conscience to join the protest against brutality and at the same time jeopardize his future to play pro baseball. Like Monsters and Men, Zyric asks you to join him deciding to do the right thing. Not everyone does.

Sadly this happens.

Hopefully one day it will cease to.

"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.

Reasonably balanced presentation of this highly charged subject that we, unfortunately, see all too frequently in today's headlines. A strong nuanced performance here by John David Washington as a conflicted NYPD police officer. Also, a solid big screen debut of writer and director Reinaldo Marcus Green. However I didn't like the ambiguous ending here.