Blonde movie review: Marilyn Monroe deserves better

A brand new movie is set to stream on Netflix in Blonde. Is the movie worth checking out when it releases? I’ll share my thoughts on the film and let you know.

Blonde is a fictional chronicle of the inner life of Marilyn Monroe. The film is based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates and is written and directed by Andrew Dominik. Ana de Armas stars as Marilyn Monroe.

We’ve seen plenty of biopics over the years, including this year’s Elvis and last year’s King Richard. However, the difference between those films and Blonde is that this is a purely FICTIONAL tale of Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was a singer, actress, and model who faced so many traumatic situations and has seen her name drug through the dirt for many years, whether that be the tabloids or books like Oates’.

With that being said, I tried to go into Blonde with an open mind because we’re in the beginning stages of award season and Ana de Armas is already in the conversation for Best Actress.

Blonde is a career-best performance by Ana de Armas

I’ll get the good out of the way in that Ana de Armas does the damn thing in the role of Monroe. She gives every bit of her fiber into the role and shows it within each sequence of the movie. I will also say that it takes some real courage not only to take on this role but to deliver in the way she did. There are moments within the film you’re clinging to every single line she speaks.

Now for the bad, this movie is incredibly long for no reason at all. A run time of two hours and forty-five minutes for what exactly? Also, who was this made for? I’ve read they said it was to honor Marilyn and what she did but when I watched this it felt like I was watching torture porn. I’m blown away that they would even create this movie with the audacity to claim it’s to honor Marilyn.

Andrew Dominik tries his best to be artsy with the film even attempting to create scenes from pictures but it comes off poorly. I don’t think the direction here was that great and every other aspect of the technical side felt like it was trying too hard. Another thing that was brutal was Dominik’s screenplay. It’s pointless as it meanders for almost three hours and bores you to death. I found myself several times just wanting to turn the movie off and I am willing to bet the average audience will do just that.

Overall, Blonde is an incredibly bad portrayal of an iconic figure that deserves better. While Ana de Armas is incredible, and the score by composers Nick Cave and Warren Ellis was great, Dominik’s lackluster vision, that truly infuriates me, makes this an easy skip for me.

Blonde hits Netflix on September 28.