Movie Review: Monsters and Men

Monsters and Men *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Reinaldo Marcus Green.

Written by: Reinaldo Marcus Green.

Starring: John David Washington (Dennis), Anthony Ramos (Manny), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Zyrick), Chanté Adams (Zoe), Jasmine Cephas Jones (Marisol), Nicole Beharie (Michelle), Rob Morgan (Will), Cara Buono (Stacey), Grant Jaeger (Remi), Josiah Gabriel (Victor), Emilia Allen (Emmy), Brian Pollock (Officer Broncato), Joe Tippett (Officer Montori), J.W. Cortes (Officer Suarez), Giuseppe Ardizzone (Officer Gambini), Steve Cirbus (Officer Scala), Samel Edwards (Big D), Christopher Jordan Wallace (Kael), Joshua Rivera (Tomas), Lana Young (Sandra), Kareem Savinon (Nino), John Diaz Banks (Lenny).

 

Monsters and Men is an ambitious debut feature for writer/director Reinaldo Marcus Green – who in just over 90 minutes basically tells three stories of people in the aftermath of one of those deadly police shootings, where a young, unarmed black man gets killed, and no one really gets in trouble. The point of the film is to show just how wide ranging the effects of the incident are – we start closer to the victim, and that gradually get farther away – but each story shows its impact.

 

The first story revolves are Manny (Anthony Ramos), a Brooklyn husband and father, who is just starting a new security job. He’s out one night with his buddies, when he sees a group of police surround Big D – a neighborhood fixture, a friendly guy who makes some money selling “loosies” outside a convenience store. Manny takes out his phone to film what happens next – he thinks it will just regular old police harassment – but then a gun goes off, and Big D is dead. Manny isn’t happy he has that video – he walks around with a definite sense of dread about it, especially since the cops keep coming around to let him know it wouldn’t be a good idea to share that video. The official story is that Big D tried to reach for an officer’s gun – Manny says the video doesn’t show that – wisely, Green doesn’t show us the video at all, so we don’t really know. The harassment of Manny escalates – cops covering for cops.

 

The second story is about Dennis (John David Washington) – who we first met in the opening scene of the movie, yet another example of a black man getting pulled over for doing nothing. Dennis is a cop – working the same neighborhood that Big D was shot in, although he wasn’t there. He knows the cop who did shoot him, and doesn’t think much of him – certainly thinks he is capable of doing it, and the video seems to confirm what he thinks. And yet – he can never really bring himself to do anything about it. Talking to his partner, he is somewhat honest – but when he talks to outsiders, he defends the police – using the standard lines about how quickly things can go down, and how they put their lives on the line every day. Even when he talks to investigators outside the department looking into the murder, while he certainly doesn’t give a ringing endorsement of the cop, he doesn’t say anything that could hurt him either. Dennis is walking a thin line between being a cop and being a black man, knowing the reality of both, and how they conflict.

 

The third segment is probably a little weaker than the first two. In it, young Zyrick (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), is a high school baseball Phenom (it was somewhat refreshing to not make him a basketball star) – who has mainly kept his down and worked on his game. After the shooting though, he faces his own run-in with the police – it doesn’t end the same way, he has done nothing wrong, but he realizes just close it could become – and decides he wants to get involved. I liked Harrison’s performance (after his work in It Comes at Night, here’s further proof he’s a real talent) – and Rob Morgan, who plays his father Will, is perhaps even better. Will cares about the same issues – but is also resigned to them, not thinking anything will change, and not wanting to see his son do anything to jeopardize his own future. At its best, this segment is as good as the other two – but I think it goes a little bit too far, goes for a little bit too much bombast in the protest sequence (as if the movie felt it really needed a Black Lives Matter protest, which feels wrong, because this is a film about three very personal reactions to it) – and then the final shot of the movie, which hits a false note as well.

 

At its best though, Monsters and Men is a thoughtful examination of a complex issue. The best segment is the middle one, which features another great performance by John David Washington – it’s also the most complex performance. All three segments feature someone who has to decide whether to do the right thing, or the easy thing – the thing that would be better for them, but worse for everyone else. How all three choose tells you a lot about each of them.

 

In short, Monsters and Men is an imperfect film, but a fine debut for Green – who crams a lot (perhaps too much) into one 96-minute package. I look forward to seeing what he does next.