Men

UK Release Date: 01 June 2022

Certification: 15
Director: Alex Garland

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paapa Essiedu, Rory Kinnear, Gayle Rankin

Rating: 36%

Review:

Men was made to look like a modern horror classic when A24 revealed the first trailer for the film   last year in February. Unfortunately, the film failed to reach the heights set out by its trailer. Men takes a promising concept with an eerie build-up and totally wastes it. 

A short film is defined 'as an original motion picture that has a runtime of 40 minutes or less'. Men would've worked better as a short film for me because the first hour of this film, exceptional - a few scenes could've been cut to fit the criteria. Incredibly anxiety inducing, utterly terrifying to the point where it becomes a draining watch due to the constant unease. The score heightens the tension incorporating sounds made from a character earlier on in the film into the music. 

The film is beautifully shot. Scenes in the British countryside are picturesque, painting-like. Vivid greens signify the beauty of nature present in the third act. Whereas somber reds appear more prominent as the film becomes darker in tone.

Despite all the stellar work, the film throws it all away with an unwatchable, miserable third act. Men is inhumane in the way it portrays body horror. One scene in particular will never leave the memory. 

Alex Garland is clearly a talented director - with critically acclaimed films such as Ex Machina and Annihilation part of his filmography - but I don't understand why he made this film. Men is a  social commentary on toxic masculinity disguised in a horror film: a thought-provoking and relevant angle to take a film if done correctly. But the message here is overpowering. Without the subtext present in the film it doesn't function, not intelligent just pretentious. All men played by the same actor, all men are the same and all men are bad. Garland hammers his point home even further displaying a sexual assault attempt on screen in case the audience weren't aware of the horrors of man. A quote from the film "Men do strike women sometimes. It's not nice, but it's not a capital offence". A man has made a film about toxic masculinity and not gone any deeper other than to say men are bad. Why?