K-SCORE: 65
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Writer: Max Botkin, Kerry Williamson
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace, Noomi Rapace, Willem Dafoe, Glenn Close
Spoiler Level: Moderate
In a world where overpopulation has forced Hillary Clinton’s granddaughter to illegalize having more than one child, Willem Dafoe accidentally has seven. Because he loves them all so much, he names then after the first thing he can come up with that there are seven of: days of the week, and then because that’s awkward, he makes them all go by Karen. There’s Tuesday, who's got a bad case of the Mondays, Wednesday the athletic one who should have been Friday, Thursday the lesbian, Friday aka Vasquez, Saturday the slut, Sunday the virgin, and Monday. What the hell happened to Monday? Nobody really likes Mondays.
What Happened to Monday has the advantage of being in one of the best genres for films. High concept dystopian sci-fi is just fun. The premise is actually quite stupid when you think about it. Sure, there’s some potential to the conflict of overpopulation, but it’s not like they explore the world very well. Generic destitute cityscapes with Chappie-esque decay and the checkpoints of Half-life 2. It’s also predictable. The characterization is ranges from mediocre (as in the case of Thursday, Monday, and Glenn Close) to very weak (as in the case with all the other days, the white guy villain, the Asian villain, and the distracting mustache.) Through that, it’s quite likable. It makes a number of gruesome choices, which set a nice tone for the twisted nature of the conflict, and it’s never dull. So even though I have far more negative things to say about it than positive things, What Happened to Monday is a tentative recommend.
“ for at least half of the film I couldn’t figure out which Karen was which”
It’s actually quite hole-ridden. There’s no reason that the villains should have struggled to take out all the weekdays after they knew where they lived. It doesn’t make sense that the concept of having a violent set of septuplets would ruin Clinton-offspring’s political career and it doesn’t make sense that she’d ever try to cut a deal. The tactics displayed by the militaristic police force are pathetic and the preparation for catastrophe on the part of the seven Karens is even worse. I was more interested in the advantages and disadvantages of seven people having the same identity than the film provides, and for at least half of the film I couldn’t figure out which Karen was which. I think Noomi Rapace did an okay job squeezing seven characters in a two hour block, but I think it helps that she kind of has a vacuous stare and agape countenance that makes you wonder if she’s not a seventh a full person anyway. Typecast!