What Happened to Monday (2017) Poster

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8/10
Good Movie = Terrible Reviews
littlegomo30 May 2021
Ignore all the bad reviews, this is a good movie with a bit of everything. It is only entertainment, after all. I honestly think there are some reviewers who simply cannot find anything positive to say about anything, their lives are simply that empty.
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8/10
Ask yourself, what am I expecting from this (or any) experience?
capn_jazz18 August 2017
I honestly don't understand the bad reviews behind this film. I'm writing this, not as a review of the events or themes that take place; but rather, a questioning of expectations from the average film viewer.

It should be fairly obvious that to enjoy any motion picture, one must enable their sense of disbelief. This means when you watch a fantasy film or show you don't question the reality of wands, spells, dragons, etc. Instead, you allow yourself to be immersed within the story. After all, the entire point of art is to transport yourself within the world of the artist.

I take issue with criticism from professional critics to the average person on the basis of "realism," "continuity," and/or any other tropes related to the experience of (in this case film), art.

This movie uses certain themes that have a major impact in the possible near future as its basis for storytelling, and therefore, I can see why some might attempt to hold the themes as a basis to grade its merits.

I must contest this though as I would say you don't read an Asimov, Clarke, Dick, novel and complain that your predictions of the future aren't the same as the author's do you? While watching this I'm reminded of my experience of watching "Minority Report" and it's safe to say that that version of the future hasn't come close to existing yet, but nonetheless it's a masterful bit of storytelling. The point though is this, sure there are holes in almost any plot, especially in films that don't coincide with our present day notions of reality; but what has that to do with our ability to enjoy a film?

Be honest with yourself for a moment, when you're watching anything but a documentary (and even then..) you're primary concern is the entertainment value. To which, this film delivers in spades.

There's great drama, great action, great acting, and one person playing 7 roles. What more could you ask for? Anyone who denigrates this film, I have to know, what are your expectations, and what are your favorite films?

8/18/17 23:38
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7/10
Enjoyable Dystopian Sci-Fi
mujali-486772 April 2021
This movie is not without its faults. There are plot holes and some completely unrealistic scenarios. However, I'm not one who looks for every box to be ticked and can let these things slide, as long as the film makes up for it in other aspects such as whether it's enjoyable or not. It does so, in my opinion, with a timely, thought-provoking theme. Also, it is well-paced and there wasn't a dull moment. And Glenn Close was genuinely terrifying.
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7/10
ORIGINAL
oh-7415621 June 2021
The idea is original, And the story is good , I don't understand why the rating is low , I'm never watching movies based on ratings from now on.
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6/10
Watch it for Noomi Rapace's dazzling performance
paul-allaer9 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Seven Sisters" (2017 release from the UK and France; 123 min.; US title "What Happened to Monday") opens with a clever montage as to the world's population explosion, leading eventually to a "one child per family" policy. But that doesn't stop Karen Settman, who bears 7 daughters (and dies in childbirth). Karen's dad Terrence is determined to raise his granddaughters "the right way", naming them after the days of the week, and composing an overall "Karen Settman" composite, whereby each of them is allowed to leave the house on the day of the week they are named after. Then one day Monday doesn't return home... At this point we are 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola, best known for "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" a few years ago. Here he goes into the sci-fi direction , playing out what happens in 2073 when society allows only one child per family and other siblings are put into a "cryosleep" until one day things hopefully get better. The movie's overall feel is quite original and imaginative, even if there are plot holes the size of Manhattan. But much of that is compensated by the dazzling performance of Noomi "Girl With Dragon Tattoo" Rapace, who plays all seven sisters, doing it with nuance and fervor. The action scenes are at times way over the top, but always entertaining. Glenn Close has a small role as the "baddie", while William Defoe has an even smaller role as Terrence Settman. But in the end, it's all about Noomi Rapace and her amazing performance.

I caught "Seven Sisters" in the theater recently while on a family visit to Belgium. The matinée screening where I saw this at in Antwerp, Belgium was attended nicely.Upon my return to the US< I noticed the movie has been renamed "What Happened to Monday" for reasons I cannot phantom ("Seven Sisters" seems so much more appropriate). THe movie has been streaming on VOD, and hence I don't know that I will get a theatrical release in the US, which is a shame. Bottom line: if you are a fan of Noomi Rapace, you'll want to check it out, be it on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.
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9/10
A tough subject discussion with amazing lead actress, action and plot twists
hydralien-4023023 May 2021
The core and everything in this movie is of course Noomi Rapace - she's doing an incredible job of playing seven different personalities, and doing it brilliantly. Other characters (like the "evil" side) are, unfortunately, not developed at all, but the siblings side is amazing. The plot is somewhat guessable (at least the general outcome), but there's plenty of good action and also a tough and controversial discussion about overpopulation - I'll leave it out of this review, but the thoughts from the movie go quite deep into how society could turn one day. That's also connected to the (small) frustration over the lack of other characters development, there's a rich ground for more elaborate story - but that shouldn't stop you from watching this film, it's very good!
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7/10
Very interesting story plot.
yogeshevolution11 November 2019
The movie is really worth watching. It has different story full of action, emotion. The story is concept of overpopulation in our world and way it is represented is impressive. A good watch.
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9/10
Not What I Expected
Gilles1039223 August 2017
Let me start by saying that I did not expect this movie to play out the way it did. The acting by Noomi Rapace is nothing but phenomenal. The movie does have the basic, typical plot in regards to the whole dystopia and one child policy that has been seen before. However, the notion of the seven sisters working together to survive was what made this storyline unique. Although Noomi played seven roles, each character had the chance of sharing their story and distinctive traits. I definitely recommend this movie. Netflix pulled this movie out of a hat.
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6/10
Great sci fi action movie 1 time watchable..
sakibrahman-6818115 May 2021
Good one.. not bad.. good climax...lady character does her job very good..great concept just like the purge movie..
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3/10
One big mess
dhaupt-7915627 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I like dystopian sci fi movies, usually - but this one fails at three core points.

1. the world makes no sense. you have an evil world wide(?) government killing children for 30+ years. there are permanent protests against a *perfectly reasonable measure*, but nobody ever found out what the government really was doing, nobody even checked what they were doing. those who do know never betray the government. people are either evil and loyal - or not, nothing in between exists. the evil government tracks the moves of everyone, at any time, but they somehow miss the x7 food consumption of a single person for 30 years. basically, the movie says "don't question it" about once a minute.

2. at no point in the plot do the characters know what they're doing or why. they have no plan, neither the "heroes" nor the "bad guys" make sense. i could write pages here.

3. the tech. this is another inconsistent mess. retina scanners can somehow not tell the siblings apart, until at one point, they suddely can. all goverment systems can be hacked without effort within seconds. it's 2073 or so, but drones? no. self driving cars? no. robots? no. AI? no. modern day equipment, tech from 2020? not even that. we only get to see holograms which are impractical and will never be used because they are transparent and hard to read. the movie could have been set in 1990 and i would have bought it, but letting it take place in 2070 comes with scientific advancements, among which genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization, which both would have solved the problem the movie is based on.
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9/10
Impressive dystopian sci-fi with Noomi Rapace playing seven septuplets
Tweekums23 October 2021
Set in the near future, where certain genetically modified foods have led to a massive increase in multiple births, there isn't enough food to feed the increasing population. To counter this a strict one child policy is enforced; younger siblings are placed in cryosleep to await better times. When Karen Settman dies giving birth to identical septuplets they are raised in secret by their grandfather; he names them after the days of the week. When they are old enough he lets each one out on the day corresponding to their name... on that day they are Karen Settman.

Thirty years pass and 'Karen' is working at a bank. As before each is Karen for their one day. Everything goes well until one day Monday doesn't return home... is she just late or has something happened to her? Tuesday tries to discover what happened but when she too disappears the sisters realise they are in real danger; somebody wants then eliminated. The remaining sisters will have to work together and face danger many times before they learn some shocking truths.

I really enjoyed this dystopian sci-fi; I couldn't help thinking that is was like the series 'Orphan Black' crossed with the classic film 'Soylent Green' without ever feeling like a rip off of either. There are plenty of twists and turns. We get lots of impressive, sometimes gory, action and a real sense of danger for our protagonist sisters. Noomi Rapace is great in the role of all seven sisters; each subtly different in look and behaviour. The supporting cast, which includes Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe are solid too. The film raises interesting questions; if the population continues to grow will limits on children be legally imposed or will it just be accepted that people won't get to eat as much... assuming new farming techniques don't solve the problem first. Overall an impressive film; I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the genre; I'm surprised it isn't better known.
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7/10
A unique story
Ahmad_pilehvar22 October 2020
This movie was had a unique story line and when ever you tried to guess what's next simple you couldn't guess. the movie was a good one in many ways the action scenes and the performance the actors and actress they played just perfect. the storyline was good enough to convince you to see it at least one more time.
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5/10
Good idea. Bad execution.
sanjin_963220 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The idea for this film is good, but Tommy Wirkola, whose movies I liked in the past, especially Dead Snow and Hansel and Gretel, really messed this one up. There are a couple of scenes that actually work, but the dialogue is far too wooden. The ending's predictable, even the twist with Monday.

There are so many flaws in this movie. It's full of missed opportunities too make it better and it's far too long, due to misguided dialogue and ultimately, a more than dull story line development. The real problem here is the script. The performances by the Scandinavian actors in supporting roles are also not the cream of the crop.

I like Rapace, Defoe and Close, but they obviously didn't have enough to work with here. I don't know the actual budget for this movie, but I imagine it wasn't cheap, since Netflix is a billion dollar company. Wirkola's visualization and the work done by the storyboards people leave an insane amount of room for improvement. Mediocre at best. 4.5/10
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6/10
Another mediocre Netflix movie
Jerghal20 August 2017
The subject of overpopulation is one that has been brought up in many scifi movies but most just use it as a situational backdrop and don't really address the problem per se. And for this movie it's the same. It quickly falls back to the cliché good (here the 7 sisters, the one's adding to the overpopulation problem) versus evil (the one's actually trying to do something about the overpopulation problem).

The plot is rather thin and has a little 'twist' in it at the end but for the rest just falls back to all the standard scifi clichés. A large part of the film is dedicated to the sisters being chased by the bad guys (you know the scene where the bad guys get out the the SWAT team truck and the main gorilla says 'find them'). This would not be a big problem (in The Matrix for example there is also a large 'chase' part) if the chase scenes were done well and had interesting action in them but unfortunately you feel like you're watching scenes you have seen many times before but done better in other movies.

Noomi Rapace does an okay job making us believe these 7 sisters have different personalities but because of the aforementioned chase scenes there isn't that much time dedicated to the development of these characters.

The cast is padded with Willem Dafoe and Glen Close (who looks very weird and artificial, she looks CGI even when she's just there :)). The presence of these actors is supposed to add more weight to the short scenes that they are in but it only partially works because the script only gives them superficial dialogue to work with.

So what could have been a more cerebral scifi movie just turns out to be a overly long (124 mins is too much, it should have been cut down to 100 mins) standard action/scifi flick that's an okay watch but nothing I would wholeheartedly recommend.
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7/10
An engaging premise, well handled
Leofwine_draca14 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
WHAT HAPPENED TO MONDAY is a Netflix-produced science fiction thriller with the usual dystopian future premise. However, it also has a very interesting storyline which makes it feel fresh and unique. The narrative takes place in a world where an evil corporation (headed by Glenn Close on typically creepy form) enforces a one-child policy. The always-interesting Noomi Rapace plays seven identical siblings who hide out in an apartment and who each venture out on the day of the week they're named after. Inevitably they get exposed and action ensues. This kind of film works well because the action scenes compliment the story. It's a little rough around the edges at times but generally works well and keeps you guessing as to the outcome. The action is violent and fast paced and includes a lot of chasing around which I always find exciting, and Rapace does well to convince as seven individual characters rather than seven lookalikes of the same character. Occasionally cliched but always fast-paced, this is an engaging feather in Netflix's cap.
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10/10
Wow......
s32761699 October 2017
How often do I get to say "wow" when I see a movie? Let me tell you, rarely......

What Happened to Monday is really quite brilliant. It takes the serious real world issue of overpopulation and pits it against the intrinsic human imperative to protect its offspring.

The inevitable collision that takes place when the need to see the species thrive at the expense of the individual, is the starting point of this film.

What happens in between is a cleverly crafted mix of sci fi, masterful storytelling, well executed action with a emotional component that's genuinely touching.

Noomi Rapace of "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" fame hands in yet another show stopping performance, nimbly and ably playing multiple characters, seemingly with ease. That's not to dismiss the performance of other cast members. This is a collectively polished affair.

This is, for me, a "must see" and possibly even "see again" sci fi. Ten out of ten from me.
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What an astounding surprise
Gordon-117 September 2017
This film tells the story of a future world, where only one child is allowed door to overpopulation. Seven sisters hide in secret until they are discovered by the authorities.

Science fiction is usually not my favorite genre, but "What Happened to Monday" blew me away. The plot is original and it's excellent. A life of hiding and living only one day a week is pretty unimaginable, but the sisters managed it. As horror falls, the story gets really thrilling and completely draws me in. I long to see how things end up and what happens to the sisters. The title can be interpreted in two ways, and I think it is very clever. I think this film will be a classic, and it certainly ranks very high up in my list alongside with "Gattaca".
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7/10
Noomi Rapace pulls this one off the mud
scandinavianmail21 August 2017
Not thanks to anyone else but her own skills to act against herself, Noomi Rapace single-handedly carries What Happened to Monday from start to finish, in seven roles that each gets a moment to make them alive. She holds the attention when the script and fellow actors don't have much to contribute, and when the surprisingly violent action takes off, she doesn't hold back anything. Half the score goes to her performance alone.

Least memorable are the quickly setup one-child dystopia and the expected thugs and their masters who maintain the uninspired system. Glenn Close does what Glenn Close has done many times, and yet another movie fails to make up its mind is she really evil or profoundly right. It would have made a better movie had they scrapped the poorly drafted political storyline altogether and concentrated on Rapace's low-level survival. Every movie needs not save the mankind.
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10/10
I don't get the bad reviews
nina-prendi28 February 2021
How come I only found out about this movie just now in 2021? How come this movie has been so undertalked about and so underrated? I loved the plot, the acting, the soundrack and generally everything. I sure hope they make more of these movies in the future.
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7/10
Really good overall, with Rapace impressive and fun in seven roles!
secondtake2 September 2017
What Happened to Monday

Most futuristic movies seem to push what is possible, and this is no exception. That seven sisters are hiding in a world where everyone is individually tracked and no siblings are allowed makes for a bit of fun implausibility—but it stretches the limits from the get go.

Still, the fact that one actress—Noomi Rapace—plays all seven parts, each deliberately distinctive, is pretty fun and amazing. And sometimes over the top—the seven personalities are radically different in caricatured ways. But so what? It's fiction, and a loose version of a dystopian future that is believable enough to fly in a movie.

And there are enough twists and surprises to keep anyone awake and alert, many of them plausible once the overall setup is accepted. That is, the game of taking on roles, and of deception all around, is interesting and well done. The complications get more and more intriguing, and the surround cast is solid and well chosen. Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe and both great but in limited appearances. This is Rapace's movie.

I say give this a go and let it entertain. And eventually sway you and suck you in. It's a convincing collaborative effort.
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5/10
Bare Bones, No Meat
tdwillis-2627319 August 2017
The premise of this story looked interesting and had the potential to have a lot done with it.

But this movie was bare bones. No Meat. Maybe even missing some of the bones.....

The story felt too simple and "spoon-fed" for me. There was little character development. When things started going bad for all the sisters, I had no emotional attachment to them to care. There was a sex scene (a little too over the top for no reason at all)that really did nothing to add to the depth of the characters or the meaning of the film in any way. It was as if they stuck it in there to check off that box of "scenes you have to have to attract broadest target audience" And I think that includes people with IQ's below 70.

The acting was well done and the production and technical parts of this movie were average/decent enough but with such a simple script the only strong emotions this movie brought out in me was boredom. I made it thru the whole movie. Barely.
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9/10
Must Watch
plasssaskia19 January 2018
This movie was everything I really enjoyed it, it started after slow but its because they are gving you the backgrounds on the girls. After this happens there's a lot of action I hate movies that are predictable this one is not I even feel for the characters.
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7/10
One of the Better Netflix Originals!
SoumikBanerjee199614 April 2020
The concept was fresh, focusing on a real issue of overpopulation here! With a bit more sincerity and efficacy, it would have been an awesome film. But some aspects of it didn't turn out well. Let me start with the Pros. The most positive point of the whole movie should be Noomi Rapace and the way she handled seven different characters who have different personalities with so much ease. She shines even more in the action sequences as we all know how good she is particularly in those. No surprise there! But to see her acting out wholeheartedly really put a smile on my face. Other than her, The soundscore matched pretty well with the fast tracked action scenes alongside some fine settings and scenical choices. Dystopian future, could have looked even more detailed but the efforts are worth applauding considering the limited resources it had. Now let's come to the negatives. The side characters haven't had much depth, they seemed exhaustively one dimensional. The storyline grips you from the very beginning but slightly loses the grasp right in the middle and then picks up right in the end. This rollercoaster of a journey lacked that essence of integrity that a Thriller should have. And the character arc of the Main Villain, underwhelming to say the least. Overall it's a fine action entertainer with a fresh plotline that could have been a blockbuster, if not for the weaker screenplay and sluggish writing.
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5/10
Average
traianvse21 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Noomi Rapace's sharp portrayal of identical septuplets, as well as an inventive and intriguing concept, almost save this dystopian thriller from its clichéd villains and some ludicrous plot points. Though each of the seven identical sisters is supposed to be unique (one slutty, one brainy, etc.), they're sketchy at best. Rapace brings as much depth as she can to them in the little time each holds the screen. Starting with a provocative premise, What Happened to Monday? ultimately becomes a violent search-and-destroy mission, with one brutal attack and death after another.
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6/10
Original story, mediocre execution
Deux_Vega1 February 2021
The story is quite interesting about a growing problem in the world, overpopulation. Not very well thought out in terms of the world they created but I'm sure that's also budget related.

Generally It was a well done and tense movie to watch. Too bad there were some confusing fighting sequences, there were some odd cuts now and then. It was mixed with very strong moments, but usually followed with something obvious and unnecessary that kind of killed the impact. Really a missed opportunity. They really had a mix of rough, realistic and original with very cliche and somewhat predictable approach. That made It never really lift It to a the unique and raw experience It could have been.

Also I got quite annoyed with the over-acting of Naomi Rapace. It was all a bit too much and too swingy. In her defence, It's quite hard to act without pretty much any real actors against you. So that may have been a reason for It too. But no, It really brought down the experience for me.
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