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...

'Monsters And Men (2018)' is a relevant and really quite multifaceted movie about a unlawful police shooting, one that tackles themes of race and racism head-on in surprisingly nuanced ways. Occasionally, however, it is a lot more heavy-handed. Whenever it is, it stumbles slightly, coming close to shaking off its otherwise near rock-solid realism. Thankfully, this doesn't happen often enough to be a major issue. The picture's distinct three-half, multi-character approach dampens its impact somewhat, as each shift in segment usually removes the previous protagonist entirely and, basically, begins things anew. Of course, all three portions focus around the aforementioned shooting. As such, the first two parts transition relatively seamlessly and provide immediately obvious alternate perspectives. The third, however, feels quite clunky and takes the steam out of the story. This final segment isn't bad once it gets going, it just prevents the overall narrative from having any real sense of escalation. Still, the unique approach allows for a more wholistic view of the central situation; we see how one event can transform the lives of apparently everyone around it in unexpected ways. For the most part, it's incredibly compelling. It teeters ever so closely on blaming 'bad apples', but ultimately refuses to draw such conclusions - or any conclusions at all, really - and is all the more successful for it. Plus, it doesn't shy away from showing some of the systematic aspects of racism, which a lot of similar ilk unfortunately miss out on. Ultimately, this is an engaging and well-conceived experience. It doesn't claim to have any answers, let alone easy ones. 7/10

Darius Larsen sells loosies, a capital offense in NYC. His death is caught on a shakey 3-minute video. The film looks at how it affected the lives of three people.

Interesting film if my timely. Note to self: uploading a video of a crime when applying for a job at the police department is not a good career move.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.