Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Monster’ on Netflix, a Legal Drama Tackling Big Ideas About Truth and the Art of Filmmaking

Monster had a long journey to its current release on Netflix. It debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was renamed All Rise for a minute — perhaps wisely, so it wouldn’t be confused with other Monster movies — before finally making its way to the ubiquitous streaming platform. The film, which adapts Walter Dean Myers’ award-winning 1999 novel, is notable for two reasons: One, it’s the feature debut of Anthony Mandler, who directed music videos for Rihanna, Lana Del Rey, the Jonas Brothers and many others. And two, it’s yet another solid credit for Kelvin Harrison Jr., whose star is rising thanks to Waves, The High Note and Luce.

MONSTER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Security cam: Two people enter a liquor store to rob it; the clerk pulls out a pistol; a violent struggle ensues. Then we see Steve Harmon (Harrison) being questioned by police. “Gang affiliation?” asks the cop, a white man who’s incredulous that a 17-year-old Black man wouldn’t have such a thing. The system is processing Steve. He meets with a public defender, Katherine O’Brien (Jennifer Ehle), who’s chilly and cynical. She meets with the prosecutor, who wants a plea deal, and Steve overhears him say, “He looks the part.” Steve’s shuffled into jail and into a cold marble courtroom with the words IN GOD WE TRUST looming over the judge ominously.

Should Steve be here? Doesn’t seem like it. In flashbacks, we see him in his middle class home with his mother (Jennifer Hudson), father (Jeffrey Wright) and little brother Jerry (Nyleek Moore). They’re a happy family living in Harlem, and Steve is a bright kid who loves photography and filmmaking. Cut back to the courtroom, and the prosecutor makes his opening statements, which includes pointing at Steve and saying, “He’s a monster.” Crucially, Steve wasn’t one of the guys in the security footage — the other man on trial is King (ASAP Rocky). Steve’s being charged as an accessory to the bodega clerk’s murder. He was the lookout, the guy who signaled to the perps that the coast was clear, or so says the prosecution.

More flashbacks. Steve photographs and films friends on the street. He chats with King at the park. Steve’s young and naive, and King is hardened, streetwise. Steve sits in class, listening to his film teacher, Mr. Sawicki (Tim Blake Nelson), lecture him about putting passion and urgency into his work, which is stylish, run through a grainy black-and-white filter to make it look like old VHS tape; Steve needs to tell a real story, Mr. Sawicki says. On the street at night, King puts his arm around Steve and points out the hustlers and old-timers — “Everybody’s got their story,” King says. Back in the present, Steve is in jail, traumatized. His father visits, his mother visits, he consults with his lawyer as they work through the trial. What exactly did he do? Is he innocent or guilty — or something else?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Well, Monster directly references Rashomon in a scene from Steve’s film class — more on that in a minute — and pretty much every courtroom drama worth its weight in OBJECTIONs and SUSTAINEDs owes at least a little something to Kurosawa’s classic. Otherwise, it’s similar to an episode of Boston Legal (or The Practice or Law and Order or or or…) crossed with Juice and American Son.

Performance Worth Watching: Is it cynical to say Harrison is destined to make millions playing a superhero? Monster is another terrific performance in his growing filmography; he gives the film the deep emotional content it needs to counterbalance its abundant style.

Memorable Dialogue: “You’re young, you’re Black and you’re on trial. What else do they need to know?” — Steve’s defender points out the uphill battle they face, convincing the jury of his innocence

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Monster compellingly teases us with the question of Steve’s involvement throughout its tight 98 minutes, urging us to wrestle with a cloudy amalgamation of truth, facts and points of view — just like Rashomon, which famously examined ideas about angles of perspective by offering four stories from four people involved with a crime. Honestly, the Rashomon reference is thuddingly obvious, a meta-commentary somewhat awkwardly junking up a narrative that’s already cluttered with the meta-stuff of its protagonist’s student film projects.

So Monster transparently follows its own advice, given voice by Mr. Sowicki. But beyond the unnecessary self commentary on the art of filmmaking, the movie still offers some worthwhile drama. It addresses the corrupt dynamics of a racist legal system, and pieces together Steve’s life-changing experiences with tense urgency. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s passionate thanks to Harrison, who gives his character some depth beyond the usual lost-innocence character arc, and lends credibility to some overwrought voiceover narration; his work is bolstered with strong work by Hudson, Wright and Ehle. It’s a nicely paced film, occasionally poetic in its visual flourishes and eminently watchable. And bottom line, we care about what happens to Steve, which speaks to its assertion that truth is more than what we just see or hear.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Monster works a little too hard to be philosophical about the experiences that comprise a life, but it has enough heart, immediacy and earnestness to make it worth seeing.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Monster on Netflix