Opinion: What Happened to Monday: A review

What do you get when you have an interesting premise, great actors, and a futuristic setting? A disappointing mess of a film.

What Happened to Monday is a 2017 film directed by Tommy Wirkola and originally released on Netflix.

The film takes place in a future where due to overpopulation, families are now limited to having only one child. All additional siblings are taken by the Child Allocation Bureau, run by Nicolette Cayman, to be put in cryogenic storage. During this time, a man is told that his daughter died giving birth to his seven granddaughters. He works out a plan with his grandchildren where they will all share the single identity of Karen Settman. The daughters are named after the seven days of the week and allowed to go outside on their respective day to be Karen. When the film’s titular sister disappears, the other six sisters try to find out what happened to her while they are suddenly being hunted down by the Bureau.

The film has an interesting premise that appears to be somewhat based on China’s controversial one-child policy. However, it has a wide range of problems that prevents it from being great.

Noomi Rapace gave a great performance as all seven sisters. She gave each one of them distinct personalities and quirks, such as Friday’s computer expertise and Thursday’s rebellious attitude. Glenn Close was also great as Cayman and played her as someone who believes that she is doing the right thing for the planet’s future.

On the other hand, Willem Dafoe was just mediocre as the sisters’ grandfather. His character could have easily been rewritten as either the sisters’ nonexistent father, their mother, or even a random guardian and the film would have lost nothing important. Marwan Kenzari was okay as Adrian but his character was badly underdeveloped. His only major trait was being Monday’s lover.

The story has a major plot hole caused by the digital bracelet, similar to the one featured above, the sisters all use to be Karen. It appears to be the film’s easy way of having the sisters avoid using their fingerprints, which could have easily unraveled their entire plan.

This film has two major plot twists, the first relating to the cryogenic storage and the second involving Monday. Without giving away spoilers, the former was very predictable and the latter felt like a vain attempt to turn her into a tragic hero.

The film’s only other positive were the action scenes. They were decent and gruesome but very appropriate for the film’s tone.

What Happened to Monday has an interesting premise, decent action scenes, and a couple of great performances from Rapace and Close. However, the film also has a major plot hole, some of the characters are either underdeveloped or easily replaceable, and two terrible plot twists. This film is only worth watching if you have run out of science fiction films and shows to watch on Netflix.

What do you think about What Happened to Monday? Do you agree or disagree with the review? Feel free to respond down in the comments section.