''Monster'' is a 2018 American legal drama film directed by

Anthony Mandler Anthony Mandler (born April 18, 1973) is an American film director, music video director, television commercial director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on s ...

, from a screenplay by Radha Blank, Cole Wiley, and Janece Shaffer, based on the novel of the same name by Walter Dean Myers. It stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Tim Blake Nelson, Nas, ASAP Rocky, Paul Ben-Victor, John David Washington, Jennifer Hudson, and Jeffrey Wright. Wright, Nas, and John Legend also serve as executive producers on the film. Three years after its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 22, 2018, the film was acquired by Netflix and released on May 7, 2021. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Premise

Cast

Release

The film premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the

2018 Sundance Film Festival The 2018 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 18 to January 28, 2018. The first lineup of competition films was announced on November 29, 2017. Awards The following awards were presented: * U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award: '' Th ...

. In April 2019, it was announced that Entertainment Studios had acquired distribution rights to the film, retitled ''All Rise''. In November 2020, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film, with the title switching back to ''Monster''. It was released on their service on May 7, 2021.

Reception

The website's critical consensus reads, "''Monster'' would have benefited from a less heavy-handed approach, but Kelvin Harrison Jr.'s performance gives this timely drama emotional heft." According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 18 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links