Monster Review: A novel, fun-filled, casual entertainer

Monster might sound silly on paper but it has been translated reasonably well on screen. 

We have a man who is so compassionate to living beings and he is also a follower of Vallalar. He doesn’t have any likes or dislikes in his life as a whole, and lives a very simple, subtle middle-class life.

The man is Anjanam Azhagiya Pillai and none other than S. J. Suryah could have pulled off this role well in a totally relatable and sensible manner.

And then we have a rat that terrorizes this man’s life. The rat can be convincingly called a monster because of its mischief and intelligence.

Read on to know how the movie manages to entertain the audience!

Plot

Anjanam Azhagiya Pillai (S. J. Suryah) is a middle class man who has his life goals.

His life is so simple, he doesn’t have any major likes, dislikes or expectations. And he is a pretty compassionate person.

But his life is not very amusing even in his thirties. He is single, and gets rejected many times upon trying to get married.

He lives a bachelor life, with a job and he gets to buy a nice apartment. He then also gets the love of his life.

When all seems to be going well and turn out nicely for him, a monster (a rat) enters his newly bought house, and hence his life.

The rat does everything in its powers to terrorise Anjanam and that’s presented very convincingly.

We are able to relate to Anjanam’s emotions and are able to root for him.

The rat even manages to ruin his love life. Even though Anjanam desperately wants the rat out of his life, he follows his principles and won’t harm the rat.

How the conflict settles form the rest of the story.

Screenplay

The movie majorly runs as a conflict between the man and the rat and that’s pretty convincing.

We also have a love track, comedy that flows all along, a smuggling gang track and so on.

But for the most part, the movie travels in the core path. We however feel that some of the time has definitely been wasted on the smuggling gang sub-plot.

It could have been easily avoided and still the movie would have been fun and even crispier.

The screenplay could have been a little bit more fast paced as that adds to the drag.

The climax also sounds a little dragged along with melodrama added to it.

Acting by cast

S. J. Suryah literally saves the movie with his fantastic acting. He easily slips into the character and helps us visualize Anjanam’s emotions.

Priya Bhavani Shankar plays Mekala, the love of Anjanam. She looks beautiful. And she conveys her emotions in a pretty convincing manner.

Karunakaran scores with his jokes and they work for the most part, adding to the pretty casual nature of the film’s mood.

The rat deserves a special mention. He is a real rat (presumably tamed) and does his part exceedingly well.

Director Nelson Venkatesan deserves to be applauded for his genuine attempt in bringing those scenes with real rat to life.

Technicals

Monster stands technically strong. Cinematography is excellent and up to the par.

The scenes involving rat requires special efforts to be shot and Gokul Benoy has neatly pulled it off.

The art work is pretty decent and pleasing to the eyes.

Justin Prabhakaran has presented wonderful background music that literally lifts the spirit of the movie as a whole.

Monster: Final verdict

Monster is a novel attempt, convincing story telling, technically sound and aptly cast movie that comes as a decent entertainer.

Yes the movie drags here and there but is overall convincing and entertaining. Go for it!