What Happened to Monday (2017)

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Writer: Max Botkin, Kerry Williamson (Screenplay)

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close, Willem Dafoe, Marwan Kenzari, Christian Rubeck, Pal Sverre Hagen, Tomiwa Edun, Cassie Clare, Cameron Jack

Plot: In a world where families are limited to one child due to overpopulation, a set of identical septuplets must avoid being put to a long sleep by the government and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Sci-Fi Gem

Story: What Happened to Monday starts in a world where population has skyrocketed causing food shortages and the first attempt to improve the food situation only increased the number of children being born, this bought in the new law, one child per family, the rest are put into chronological sleep until the food problem can be solved.

Terrence Settman (Dafoe) finds himself becoming a grandfather to septuplets that he names after the days of the weeks, 30-years later the seven (All played by Rapace) live together with them getting a different day out of the house to keep their identity hidden after learning the skills to survive from Terrence.

When Monday doesn’t return from work the remaining six must work together to locate her but only Tuesday can go out first and now they must go against Nicolette Cayman (Close) the woman that bought into effect the one child law.

Thoughts on What Happened to Monday

Characters – The Settman Siblings all named after the days of the week, they all do have their own characteristics as they are only allowed to appear in public on their named day of the week. They have 30-years of working together living on identity and now they must use this to stay alive. I did like how each one felt like they could offer something different, we have the tech smart one, the tough one, the street smart one and so on, this shows us how each one does deal with their situation they find themselves in. Nicolette Cayman is thee government woman that brings in the one child law, she wants to clean out the Settman Siblings and will do anything to cover it up, even if she is just the generic government character. Terrence Settman is the grandfather of the girls that teaches them how to survive the world, this is mostly a mentor role though.

Performance – Noomi Rapace is the true star of this movie, she is fantastic playing the seven sisters and all their different characteristics showing the range she is capable off as a leading action sci-fi star that can also handle the emotional range required. Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe are both good without needing to be a major part of the full story.

Story – The story follows how seven sisters secret in a world of only one child allowed gets exposed over a week as we see how the women must work together to stay alive using their skills in a world that is hunting them down. We have twists along the way and much like Netflix other major film this year Okja, the film isn’t afraid to hold the punches when it comes to shock value. This does also have a huge original factor about it, which puts it on the top of one of the best stories you will see this year.

Sci-Fi – The creation of this world we enter is part futuristic and does put us into a potential question that could be asked about in the future, without going overboard with any sci-fi elements but also fits the sci-fi story being told.

Settings – The world looks like the one we have seen before but it also has small parts that could be added in the near future, which brings the film into a potential real-world feeling.

Special Effects – All the effects are great, most of this goes down to using Rapace in multiply roles and nothing looks out of place when they are on screen together.