Monsters and Men is the type of movie I typically avoid. It had the makings of a preachy, social justice film. However, the previews made the film look like it wanted to take a more balanced approach to the subject matter. The film, written and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green takes several events that were in the headlines in recent years and attempts to roll them into a single film as viewed by three people affected by events. It is a subdued, slanted look into the issue of police brutality. It also reinforces false notions on the topic, lacking the balance that the trailers attempted to project.
The premise of the film hinges on an incident that is a hybrid of Eric Garner and Mike Brown. In this case, an oversized loose cigarette pusher named Darius Larson (Samuel Edwards). As Larson is confronted with police, Manny (Anthony Ramos) records the encounter on his cellphone. The confrontation ends in Larson's death when an officer claims Larson reached for his gun. The event sparks local protests that affect the community in different ways. Dennis (John David Washington) is a black police officer caught between his loyalty to other police and his community. He must come to terms with his own experiences and his job. Zyric (Calvin Harrison Jr.) is a baseball prospect who must navigate his own experiences and the effects of the shooting in his community. None of the characters finds resolution. Instead, they pass their struggle to the next character as the film manages to examine their struggles without providing resolution.
The two events that inspired the precipitating event in this story are both events that have been politicized and widely misunderstood. If you were to do a poll of the average American, I think that ninety percent would tell you that Eric Garner was asphyxiated by police. In fact, in a move more political than medical, the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide and cited the choke hold along with morbid obesity, acute asthma and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Garner did not die on the street. While I accept that the choke hold may have been a contributing factor, Garner died in the ambulance of a heart attack. The ambulance that police called to assist Garner. Garner had severe medical conditions. To call his death a homicide is as unjust as arresting a man for selling "loosies" is. It is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy that has been manipulated and distorted to support a popular anti-police narrative. In the film, the suggestion is made that Larson attempted to grab the gun, an event that the film suggests did not happen. It is clearly a reference to the Mike Brown case and the "hands up, don't shoot" narrative that was also proven to be an outright lie. The witness who made that claim changed his story continuously each time the physical evidence disproved his lies. Relying on evidence alone, the police officer was corroborated completely. Brown's DNA was inside the vehicle and he was shot in the thumb. It also fits with witnesses describing one or two shots, a pause and then more shots. From the evidence, it appears Brown was bull-rushing the police officer at the time he was killed. After a first failed attempt to disarm him, the police officer certainly had a viable reason to fear for his life when a second attempt appeared imminent. It was another unfortunate event. But the facts clearly demonstrate the Brown reached into the vehicle and attempted to disarm the police officer. The blood trail also indicated Brown was moving toward the officer when he was killed. The rest is conjecture. But the combined narrative of this film, relying on these two events, attempts to recast (or at least further congeal) the misinformation and propagandizing that resulted from those two incidents.
There is a fine line between anarchy and freedom. We have always managed that balance. But devaluing the sacrifices of law enforcement does not lead to more freedom. It leads to more fear. And films like this do a disservice to law enforcement and the sacrifices they make. What appeared to be balance in the movie ended up being a reinforcement of the "thin blue line" concept that is tenuous at best in today's world. It is more of a brotherhood than a wall of silence as it is portrayed in films like this. The story was tepid, the plot lines unresolved and some of the actions made no sense. For instance, there is the suggestion that police illegally searched a house. It is not only a stretch, it makes no sense. The target, in this case, fences stolen property. They could easily have gotten a search warrant or even an arrest warrant. The actions used to portray the police as corrupt just didn't ring true.
This is the second consecutive social justice film I have seen Washington in BlackkKlansman where he plays a police officer dealing with social justice issues. I hope he doesn't become typecast. I like Washington. So far. But I haven't loved either of these films. Hopefully he doesn't paint his career into a corner. His dad is a perennial powerhouse in Hollywood. So he obviously has support that other new actors wouldn't have. But he could quickly lose me if all he chooses to do is social justice. Anthony Ramos was decent as our first protagonist. I liked him better in this film than in A Star is Born. I didn't like his character so much, but his performance was solid. Harrison was my least favorite of the three, but the role was a bit weaker as well. His conflict is a little bit more obtuse. He navigated the role okay, but didn't have much opportunity to deliver anything with impact. The casting was strong for an otherwise understated film with a weak backbone.
Monsters and Men received an R rating from the MPAA. I am not sure why the R rating as the primary issue was language. There was a scene where a character has a small amount of marijuana, there is some contextual alcohol consumption and there is the shooting, which was never depicted. There was also a scene where protestors confront the police where tear gas is fired. But overall, the material was fairly tame. I would suggest teens, tweens and older should be fine for this film. The run time is one hour, 35 minutes.
Monsters and Men is the type of film I love to hate. I would probably give this film a non-recommendation based on the way police are portrayed, but I am going to go with an objective rating. The story was a bit weak and understated. The characters were mildly interesting, but there were a lot of stereotypes interjected into the story. The story slogged along at times, but did manage to hold my interest. It appeared an attempt was made to create some balance, but it ended up being a bit backhanded. Having said all that, I feel the IMDb rating is currently a bit low, surprisingly. It is sitting at 5.7 as I write this. The theater was nearly empty when I was there, if that is any indication. But I would go a bit higher with a 6/10.
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