Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Monochrome'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It has often been said that money is in fact, the root of all evil and well…the people who often use that phrase, aren’t exactly wrong. After all, money and the drive to acquire as much of it as possible has led to some serious financial disaster in America and around the world and time and time again, we learn of the dangers of greed when we see the economy slip into a recession or downright collapse because a group of people wanted to maximize value for their all-important shareholders.
 
Yet, what’s truly fascinating about money and the problems it creates, is that a vast majority of those who scheme to get their hands on it in illegal fashion, rarely pay the piper for their actions. They simply move on to the next money-making scheme and we express our fury over the matter and eventually move on as well. But what would happen if people simply had enough of how the financial elite handle their business? Would they come together and make sure that laws are enacted to prevent such matters from ever happening again, or would some people take matters into their own hands and make the ultra-greedy pay for their crimes in blood? And oddly enough, it is that latter option that is explored in fascinating fashion in the film, Monochrome.
 
Now in this motion picture, we meet a woman named Emma Rose, whose life is instantly turned upside down when her boyfriend is arrested for embezzlement, and while this seems like an everyday case of greed, her sweetheart’s work could bring the United Kingdom to its knees financially since he’s stolen an incredible amount of cash and of course, the police want to know if she’s involved with this mess in any way, putting Emma on the run. But, she’s not simply content to sit by and wait and see if the police will track her down, instead she realizes she has nothing to lose and embarks upon a mission of revenge, one that will make the greedy pay dearly for a change. But a complication will present itself to Emma by way of a brilliant detective named Gabriel Lenard and his unique mental abilities will quickly put him one step ahead of her quest for retribution…

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So, I have to outright admit, that this motion picture straight up tricked me. Because at first, it really seemed like a by-the-numbers crime caper wherein Emma was going to play the weak-willed victim and it would take a brilliant man like Gabriel to save her. So, imagine my surprise when suddenly, this turned into a serial killer flick, with Emma leading the charge as the killer in question, and Gabriel hot on her heels and well, this little twist was downright brilliant through and through for so many reasons, the first one being Emma’s motivations for murder. Because we so rarely see films in this vein feature murders that are grounded in morality, at least in the antagonist’s mind and it was downright fascinating to learn why Emma was so keen on putting down the rich.
 
If anything, Emma’s motivations and my desire to learn more about them brings us to the other reason I was a big fan of this motion picture; the fact that the characters are so incredibly rich and vibrant. There are layers upon layers when it comes to every single person we meet in the film, and while Emma is the truly most fascinating of them all, she’s foiled nicely by Gabriel Lenard since this intrepid and inexperienced Detective is unlike any other on the silver screen. Because rather than just make him another brilliant gumshoe, with powerful insight that no one can explain, they added new depth to this man by making him quite the outsider, complete with Synesthesia so that his character is always observing the everyday world in a different light, allowing for him to find things that other detectives and other people in general, flat out miss. 
 
All of these elements come together to create an outright fascinating film, one that quite frankly breathes new life into a tired genre in the most ironic way imaginable because the finer details of the plot, are surprisingly pretty routine storytelling wise, it’s the characters and their quirks that give it such a unique spin and well, this all worked so well in the end that I have to admit that I was captivated from the get go and simply had to know how it was going to end. And that makes this movie one that I definitely recommend, simply because it’s a downright entertaining ride and completely worth your time. So, if you’re a fan of crime movies or movies in general, and you’re looking for something new to tickle your brain, check this one out, you’ll be glad you did because this story really is a fascinating one that captivates you from beginning to end. 

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