July 2024 Movie Reviews: The Boy and the Heron, In a Violent Nature, Monkey Man
Birds, a brutal killer, and a man who dresses as a monkey all feature prominently in three new titles that fall into very different genres. Today, we’ll review each of them: The newest Studio Ghibli animated film, a low-budget Canadian horror movie, and an Indian action extravaganza.
The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Studio Ghibli, 124 minutes
So, I know many moviegoers are big fans of Studio Ghibli and writer-director, Hayao Miyazaki, who was responsible for movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle (and many other Japanese animated films). If you really enjoy these types of movies, you’ll like The Boy and the Heron. It’s probably not one of the best films from Studio Ghibli, but it’s at least comparable to those that are regarded as such.
On a personal level though, The Boy and the Heron, just doesn’t do it for me. It’s a weird movie – too weird for my tastes. I think that there’s definitely a cultural disconnect for me with some of these types of films and I felt that way here. I also didn’t care for the protagonist of the story; I found him annoying and had a hard time rooting for him. I didn’t find other characters to be as interesting or charming as I think we’re supposed to find them either.
Despite this, I can still appreciate the art style of Studio Ghibli movies, which I do think can be beautiful at times. Another positive to The Boy and the Heron is the film’s score, which is enchanting and works well with the visuals.
The movie also isn’t boring – I always found it to be watchable, I simply never really enjoyed it. As I wrote earlier, if you’re a fan of these sorts of movies, you’ll like this one. For me, this style of film is too out there, with a weirdness that I, at times, find off-putting.
Grade: 5/10
In a Violent Nature (2024)
Shudder, 94 minutes
In a Violent Nature is a horror film that opened to positive critical reviews but received a lukewarm (at best) reception from general audiences. That’s opposite many movies in the genre where critics give negative reviews, but they’re enjoyed by many average moviegoers since they can often be a lot of mindless fun. After watching In a Violent Nature, it’s easy to see why it received such a contrary to expected reception – the film is just as much an art film as it is a horror one.
If you go into In a Violent Nature expecting a typical slasher, you’re going to be very disappointed. The movie is slow paced and deliberate so much so that it’s definitely part of the point of the movie. A good portion of the runtime is spent over the shoulder of the movie’s killer as he plods slowly through the woods. I found some of this viewpoint, and the manner in which In a Violent Nature is shot, to be an interesting one, but I can see how many would find it tedious and boring.
The movie is still, as the title suggests, brutally violent, and there are some creative kills. The acting, by the entire cast, except for the killer (who’s fine), is not good. It’s bad in an 80s horror movie kind of way – so much so that I wonder if some of the bad acting was deliberate. Either way, it doesn’t detract too much from the overall film since you’re not watching this one for the acting. In a Violent Nature values style over substance.
If you enjoy both art films and 80s horror, you’ll want to watch In a Violent Nature. If you only like one of those two types of movies (or neither of them), then this one definitely isn’t for you. Personally, I felt like it had a few different, interesting ideas, but was still too long and slow (even if that was part of the point), and it could’ve certainly been better.
Grade: 6/10
Monkey Man (2024)
Universal Pictures, 121 minutes
To describe Monkey Man as simply the Indian John Wick is a bit unfair to Monkey Man. I’d argue that as far as action-revenge movies go, Monkey Man has more substance than a John Wick-type film. In fact, the scenes of Monkey Man that deal with our central character not engaged in fisticuffs are the more interesting parts in the film.
Writer-director-actor Dev Patel does a good, but not great, job with a lot of aspects of what is his directorial debut. I think he actually pulls off being an action movie lead really well. His character (who isn’t given a real name since he’s meant to be badass) is well developed and easy to root for.
The film’s villains are largely cliché action-movie bad guys; they’re totally serviceable. Side characters, however, like a woman working at a social club or a portly manager who befriends our protagonist, aren’t explored enough or given enough substance. Some characters (like the manager in particular) or plot points (like Patel’s character training a dog) are dropped from the story abruptly when the film doesn’t quite know what to do with them.
Stylistically, the movie looks good. At the same time, the action scenes themselves are pretty standard and maybe not as great as you’d expect to find in similar sorts of movies. Overall, Monkey Man delivers as a slightly better than average revenge film with a solid performance from its lead. It doesn’t rise to another level of being particularly memorable though.
Grade: 7/10