Here is My Movie Review of The Monkey

 

Here is My Movie Review of The Monkey

Now when I saw the trailer for the film it looked really interesting because I really enjoy a lot of Stephen King movies. I enjoy The Shining with Jack Nicholson. I also think Cell from 2016 is a really underrated Stephen King movie with Samuel L Jackson. So I watched this film and I have to say this is probably one of the most entertaining films of 2025. Now I will say I think other 2025 films like Fantastic Four First Steps with Pedro Pascal or 28 Years Later with Jodie Calmer are better written. But this was a really fun and really entertaining film. 

Now the storyline in the film is really interesting because we focused around these two brothers name  Hal and Bill Shelburn learned that their deceased dad left them this monkey and they decide to play with it but once they wind it up it starts off killing people and the two part ways and Hal starts to have a family and he had the son named Petey who is worried about Hal because he think that his going crazy with his obsession with the monkey. But Hal tells him that they need to destroy the monkey. But little did they know that his older brother Bill, has the monkey I want to use to kill everyone, especially his younger brother. So it's up to how to prevent his brother Bill from you than the monkey and prevent more people from being killed and that's basically what the story is for this film. Now the story in this film is really interesting because it is bent off of the Stephen King short story called The Monkey. The same thing happened in that story where The two brothers finest monkey and they start to play with it and The Monkey goes crazy and the same thing happens In this film. I think the story in this film is up there with the story in The Accountant 2 as one of the most entertaining storylines of 2025. 

 Now the performances are really awesome particularly from both the main actor who played the adult counterparts of the twins and the young actor who played the younger twins in the film. I think both actors do a glorious job in the film. 

However the absolute big standout of the entire film is Thoes James as Hal and Bill Shelburn because he managed to play both characters at the same time because these characters are essentially twins and his performance kind of reminds me of Ryan Reynolds before men's in the voices because in that film he played multiple characters. Now the characters of Hal and Bill Shelburn  because Hal If someone who was really nice when he was a kid And now that hear the adult he has PTSD of this monkey that killed him and Bill´s mother and he has to take care of his own son Petey So he doesn't get killed by the monkey. Now Bill is completely different from how because when he was a kid Bill always liked to pick on his younger brother because he enjoyed training with garbage and he wished that he were the only child and he wanted to get the monkey to kill his younger brother Hal and keep the monkey all to himself. The themes involving how and Bill are really incredible whether it is Bill telling the monkey to kill Hal or Hal telling Bill that the monkey will Just cause more death and more bad luck between the two of them and does lead to some really scary and nail biting  moments in the film. The chemistry between him and Christian Convery, Elijah Wood, Colin O'Brien is still brilliant. 

Christian Convery plays Young Hal and Bill In the film and his performance is terrific because he is essentially doing the same thing as Theo James which is playing two characters in one film and you can tell that he is having a lot of fun as these characters. Now the characters are really interesting because much like their  adult counterparts Hal and Bill Shelburne have the same personality because Hal was always nice  and he didn't want his brother Bill to play with the monkey because of  their deceased dad and he didn't want anything bad to happen. Now Bill is completely different because unlike his brother Hal who is really nice.  Bill was shown to be a  jerk because he enjoyed picking on his younger brother because he viewed him as a loser. The scenes with young Hal and Bill are really incredible, whether Hal telling Bill that they can't play with the monkey because it belonged to their father or Bill telling how he is really dumb and it does lead to some really emotional and heavy dramatic moments in the film. Also the relationship between Hal and Bill is probably the strongest aspect of the entire film because even though they hate each other you can still buy them as the brother would duo because there are moments where they do get along in their own ways. 

Now the actor I was looking forward to the most and I legitimately thought he was going to be the main The twins in the film that being Hal and Bill was of course Elijah Wood. Now Elijah Wood is a tremendous actor he's really awesome in The Lord of the Rings and Frodo Baggins,  9,  Sin City where he played the character Kevin. Now I'm going to say this is if you are looking forward to seeing Elijah Wood play a bigger role in this film you are going to be very disappointed because he plays the character of Ted Hammerman  And his performance What's decent it wasn't perfect but for what Elijah Wood does have the script does provide him with a few decent lines to dialogue. Now the character of Ted Hammerman is just there to tell Hale that he has to pay child support and that's it that is his entire Catherine the Cindy does have with Hale is a pretty good scene but you kind of forget that Elijah Wood have even in this movie. Also I am not even kidding here I always forgot that Elijah Wood in the film. The chemistry between him and Theo James is really awesome. I do think  they have believable chemistry in the film. 

Colin O'Brien plays Hal Shelburne's son Petey Shelburne In the film and his performance is really tremendous because if you give the really remarkable and captivating performance in the film. Now the character of Petey Shelburne Is exhilarating because you can tell that he really care the man's dad he's worried that hail is going a little crazy because of his PTSD with the monkey and his father being no longer with him and Petey Shelburne want to help him get over his PTSD. The scenes with Petey Shelburne are probably some of the most interesting moments in the film whether it is him asking his dad Hal if he's doing okay or him bonding with his dad it does lead to some really Emotional and Entertaining moments throughout the film. The chemistry between him and Theo James is excellent. 

Now let's talk about The Monkey. I have to say it is probably one of the creepiest villains of the entire year because it basically enjoys hitting It's drum and causing people to die. Also the Monkees motivation is really interesting because it essentially wants to kill whoever It wants because it enjoys causing chaos and it also wants to Have the twins turn against each other by having Bill use it so he can kill his brother Hal. Also the effects To bring The Monkey to life Is tremendous it looks like the one from the book. The scenes with the monkey or prey disturbing whether it is just sitting and doing nothing or hitting the drum multiple times to kill people. It does lead to some really horrifying and some really creepy moments in the film. I still think The Monkey is up there with Ethan Skates from The Electric State as the most entertaining villains of 2025. 

However the best thing about this movie is the directing because it is of course directed by Osgood Perkins who has directed a lot of amazing films Long legs from 2024 Gretel and Hansel from 2020 which both of those films he directed really well he did a terrific job directing those films. Now as for this film much like Longlegs he did magnificent job directing this film because what I love about his directing is that he does a glorious job of adapting The short story The Monkey because the storyline from that short story is just like how it is in the film the exact same thing happens Two twin brothers by the evil toy monkey they wind it up and it starts killing people and the two are drifted apart because of their father's death and that's something I actually appreciated what Osgood Perkins did because he actually further developed the characters in this film because in the book they were developed because Hal and Bill drifted apart because their dad has died so you're going to understand why they don't like each other. So overall I think he did a glorious job directing this film. 

So in conclusion I still really enjoy the film because the storyline revolving around two brothers finding an evil toy monkey and trying to get over their PTSD as a  lot of potential in the film executes it really well because it gets everything from the short story right well adding a couple things to expand upon it. I also enjoy a lot of the performances. The biggest standout is Theo James who plays the twin brothers Hal and Bill. Also Christian Convery gave a really fun and terrific performance as the young Hal and Bill in the film. Even Elijah Wood gave a pretty fun performance in the film even though out of the actors he is probably The most underutilized because he has only one scene but for what he does have he is entertaining in the film. The Monkey was a really really interesting villain, how it used its drum to cause people to die. I also think the effects for the monkey looked really awesome. I think The Monkey is up there with Ethan Skates from the Electric State as one of the most entertaining villains of 2025. I think this film is up there with Death Of A Unicorn with Paul Rudd as one of the best films of 2025. I also think the film is up there with Thunderbolts* Lewis Pullman is one of my favorite films of 2025. I highly recommend you watch this film especially if you enjoy Love Hurts with Ke Huy Quan. Then I'm sure you're going to like this one. I give this movie a 10/10.