The Fantasy Review’s review of The Monkey (2025).
The Monkey is a movie that could have been great, but was just mediocre. I enjoyed it. I had fun watching it. I’ll probably rewatch it in the future. But I wasn’t blown away.
Spoiler-Free Review of The Monkey (2025)
Let’s start this review off by talking about the characters. Theo James as Hal was the stand-out performance. Theo James also played Hal’s twin brother, Bill, too, and was absolutely brilliant.
Hal and Bill felt like completely different people throughout. The younger versions of the twins (played by Christian Convery) were also surprisingly well differentiated by a mix of costume design and acting.
Hal is an interesting main character, tormented by memories of his childhood of being bullied, and of course, the Monkey. As an adult, Hal struggles to live a normal life because of his “baggage” and this becomes the emotional angle of the plot and is engaging despite the comedic side of the movie.
When it comes to side characters, I would have liked to have seen more. Elijah Wood is in The Monkey for a couple of minutes. He was great, but what a waste not having him there for longer!
The same goes for Tatiana Maslany as Hal and Bill’s mum. Maslany gives us a complex character in very few scenes. We see a harshness to the mum, but also a great deal of warmth and love. She’s bitter, but she loves her children.
To be honest, no one is happy in this movie. But it’s a horror movie, so you wouldn’t expect well-adjusted individuals in the story! Especially one based on a Stephen King story…!
The plot of The Monkey, for the most part, is pretty standard. Towards the middle, things get messy, and the messiness is cleaned up by a rather unsatisfactory ending. However, the resolution is entertaining.
I think that’s the main aspect of this movie I want to get across. It is extremely entertaining. People keep dying in random, insane ways. It felt like I was watching Final Destination, only the set design and lighting were better.
Overall, I’d suggest grabbing a tub of popcorn, kicking back, and spending an hour or two being entertained by this movie. Sure, it’s nothing special, but it is a hell of a lot of fun.
