Review: Monster

A couple of firsts with this particular viewing. This was the first film that I can recall seeing in the traditional Irish language.

Not only that, but this also told the story of a piece of Irish history which I did not know about.

Seeing a film like this in the Irish language just further showed the passion put into this project. Director Tom Sullivan has given a clear message on what he was looking for in this project.

After now experiencing it, I felt it was pretty satisfying viewing. The first act opens up the story nicely. There is some nice character development, the Irish coastal landscape gets your attention from the first minute and there is a pretty tense sequence that puts the rest of the film into motion.

The rest of the film could lose some people purely on its pacing. Almost the rest of the film is all about visual story-telling and effective atmosphere. I will agree it may come across as slow and plodding for some demographics. But for others including myself, I thought that the cinematography and score made it quite atmospheric to keep my investment.

It does end with some thrills, which was nicely done. But a part of me also made me feel it was out of the place in relation to the tone.

The performances by the entirely Irish cast were all pretty good. Donall O'Healai as a lead did a great job of carrying the film. With many moments of the story being told through his face, he added a lot of weight to the film in impressive fashion. Plus, there is a noticeable body transformation by O'Healai that almost went to levels of Christian Bale from The Machinist. I do really hope to see him bigger projects as he deserves to be noticed by a mainstream audience.

Dara Devaney gave real menace in his character and him one of the most memorable aspects of the film. I must finally mention Michael McElhatton, who people will know through Game Of Thrones made the most of his short screen-time.

So all in all, I would say it was a pretty good. I really liked the truth aspect of the story, the look of it, the moody atmosphere it gives off, the Irish locations are beautifully shot and become a character in itself and the performances are all good.

It's just under 90mins and it shows in some of the lack of development with the supporting cast. So I think a bit of depth to the characters could have been this film great instead of good.

But one things for sure, the country of Ireland should be proud of this feature in many ways.

Rating: 7/10