The Mad Goat Movie Review: What Happened to Monday?

The last couple years in movie land have been good if you like overblown extravaganzas but in a world seemingly devoted to sequels and reboots there hasn’t been a whole lot of substance lately. “What Happened to Monday” delivers. The critics were kinda harsh on this one, but fuck those guys. Monday is a Netflix original directed by Tommy Wirkola, who has a curiously dismal film resume, mostly devoted mostly to Nazi zombies, and stars Noomi Rapace, who blew audiences away in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

The story is set in a dystopian future where global warming has made most of the world’s land unsuitable for growing food. Overpopulation is out of control, and the problem is put on fast forward by new genetically modified crops causing every pregnant chick to turn into octo-mom. The movie is very similar to “Children of Men,” but instead of not enough babies, there are too many. The film’s villain, played by Glenn Close, is a politician that instigates a one child per house law. Any siblings that are discovered are put into cryogenic sleep until the world can get its shit together. The movie starts with Willem Dafoe in a hospital where his estranged daughter has just died during child birth while popping out identical sextuplets.

The seven sisters, named after each day of the week, spend the next thirty years taking turns leaving the house as they pretend to be one person. Shit starts spiraling out of control when Monday fails to return home from work one day. Noomi Rapace does a fantastic job of playing the seven sisters. I was impressed with the director’s job of whatever green screen black magic it took to show one person playing so many characters on the screen at one time. The film starts out feeling like a slow paced indie flick but quickly turns into a full blown sci-fi action movie. Glenn Close’s character is undoubtedly evil but you can completely understand her motivation and sympathize with her plight, which is the hallmark of a good villain.

If you like movies that make you think and keep you guessing I highly suggest watching “What Happened to Monday.” If you are the type of person that doesn’t like watching people get mercilessly shot in the head you might want to sit this one out though.

Sources: 1, 2, 3