Muddled sci-fi thriller 'What Happened to Monday' is still fun and has Noomi Rapace times seven

Review: Muddled sci-fi thriller ‘What Happened to Monday’ is still fun and has Noomi Rapace times seven

By Noel Murray

Aug. 17, 2017 1:35 PM PT

Anyone who already misses the clone-tastic science-fiction series “Orphan Black” may ease their suffering a bit with “What Happened to Monday,” a two-fisted futuristic thriller with Noomi Rapace playing seven lookalike siblings with differing personalities. The film isn’t as provocative as it means to be, but it gets a lot of juice from Rapace’s multifaceted performance and an “anything goes” approach to plot.

Set in a near future where the government ruthlessly enforces a “one child” policy, “What Happened to Monday” has Rapace playing illegal siblings who’ve been raised by their grandfather Terrence Settman (Willem Dafoe) to take turns pretending to be the same woman. When a cruel bureaucrat (Glenn Close) discovers the ruse, the sisters begin disappearing one by one, and the survivors have to scramble to save themselves.

At over two hours, “What Happened to Monday” can be exhausting; and the script by Max Botkin and Kerry Williamson can’t seem to keep its contrivances or its socio-political opinions straight.

But “Dead Snow” writer-director Tommy Wirkola provides some stylish thrills, loading up on chase scenes, gunfights, and occasional bursts of sex and gore. (A scene where one of the Settman gals severs an assassin’s finger to use his trigger-locked gun is especially gnarly.)

Fans of outsized genre fare should appreciate how much fun Rapace appears to be having, showing off different skills in different wigs. Her enthusiasm doesn’t make this a good movie, but it does makes it likable.

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