Monos

Lord of the Flies meets Apocolypse Now meets Metal Gear Solid, but never really explores the themes it nabs from these prior works. Monos' gorgeous cinematography and impressive production value isn't lost on me, but I couldn't help but feel it was a visually pleasing but ultimately empty experience, opposing the almost bottomless pit of possibility the opening arc teases. [spoiler]Child soldiers and forced recruitment from a young age is bad (duh), and we are shown how another unsuspecting group of children are to be brought into their barbaric fold through pure circumstance towards the end of the movie, but nothing is really said to explore this central crux outside of what the audience already know.[/spoiler] This atrocity is instead used as a canvas to showcase some fantastic film making and not much else. See it for its visual splendor and almost hypnotic rhythm if that's your jam, but don't expect any narrative exploration any deeper than a puddle.