Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 16, 2025

I need to state up front that it's nearly impossible to effectively, or at any length, talk about Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie without spoiling what happened at the end of season eight, so beware from here on out there will be clear spoilers as is necessary to review this film. So, with that out of the way, here is Monk's so far one and only movie, a movie that really just feels like a double length episode in terms of structure and tonal flavor. But that's not a bad thing at all, especially since it uses the pandemic as a springboard to devolve Mr. Monk back into that old, familiar persona that fans knew and loved and which was more or less "retired" at the end of season eight with the closure Monk experienced by finally putting together the truth behind Trudy's murder. So the question of how or why Monk essentially "falls off the wagon" is answered to satisfaction, which allows us now to move into the basics of the plot.

The plot is pretty much a Monk plot drawn out to 90 minutes. Monk has written a tell-all memoir, but he's taking the term "tell-all" a little, OK, a lot, too literally. It’s filled with way too much throwaway details that nobody but Monk cares about or finds interesting, like lengthy stories about his ovens and vacuum cleaners. Monk is ordered to return the advance, but it’s already been earmarked for Trudy's daughter Molly’s wedding. She's set to marry Journalist Griffin Briggs, an extreme sports enthusiast who is also exposing the deadly dealings of one of the world's foremost multi-billionaire entrepreneurs, Rick Eden. Monk finds himself drawn into the case that ultimately reunites him with Natalie, Randy, and Leland but also forces him to face his darkest side, question his self-worth, and discover the real value he places on bringing criminals to justice.

So the story is basically Monk and...thats about it. But that's also all it really needed to be, anyway. There was no need to reinvent the wheel. The only "need" for the movie, really, was "undoing" the ending from season eight, and COVID made that nice and neat. It's entirely believable that a pandemic of that scale, with so much stress and fear and uncertainty associated with it, would essentially reset Adrian Monk back to his defaults. So, with that out of the way, the rest of the movie offers no real novelty beyond seeing the characters looking a fair bit older and finding them in different places in their lives, some pretty much where they were left (Disher) and others having moved on to other things (Leland). And, Leland's new gig just so happens to put him smack dab in the middle of the new case...convenient!

The case itself is murder, of course, here with a suspect who is basically Jeff Bezos. He runs a big online storefront that has made him extravagantly wealthy to the tune that he can offer monk a billion dollars in one scene to basically get him off his back, and not even bat an eyelash....like it was twenty bucks for you or me. The longer runtime allows for a bit more focus on this villain, who is not truly all that interesting, but he does manage to keep digging his own grave, so to speak, resorting to darker and more drastic measures to deflect attention and remove any obstacles to his freedom. Monk solves the case in classic fashion, and it's a case that would have fit in just fine with any of the previous eight seasons. The highlight comes when Disher builds an elaborate LEGO set to make his case for his wild theory on how the victim was murdered, which of course makes no logical sense whatsoever but does provide the single best laugh in the film.

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino brings Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie to the Blu-ray format with a crisp and efficient 1080p transfer. It's clean, digitally shot, and doesn't really look at all like the seasons in terms of technical aesthetics, since the show was shot on film. It's a little jarring, having just come off of a full series watch over the last months, but for what it is it looks very nice. There's detail aplenty, with fine facial lines, clothing density, and the like showing every nook and cranny and fine point detail one could possibly ever want to see, especially on the aged characters, which takes some getting used to. But the picture is absolutely everything it should be in terms of clarity and revelatory detail. Colors are very good too, with all the boldness and accuracy one could possibly want from a TV movie. It's not extraordinarily colorful, there's not any real color grading that betrays a fairly straightforward, normal looking appearance, so the fullness and richness simply play it straight down the middle. There's plenty of vibrancy at work, especially outdoors. Skin tones are healthy and black levels are pleasantly deep. I did not notice any major bursts of noise, nor was there any banding, aliasing, or the like. This is a fine transfer from Kino.

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This TV movie release of Monk contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack, which was the same configuration that accompanied the series' full run on Blu-ray. For a two-channel track, there's quite a lot going on. It's full, clear, and as dynamic as can be within its constraints. The track offers some decent directionality, like when a jet rumbles across the front in the seven-minute mark. And even without a subwoofer, listeners will enjoy some solid punch to an explosion later in the film, and a barrage of fireworks exploding as the film approaches its climax. Music is rich and clear with impressive spacing across the front. Dialogue centers nicely and impresses for prioritization and detail alike.

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie contains one supplement: 'Mr. Monk's Last Cast: A Monk Movie' - TV/Web Spot (1080p, 0:16) is a lighting quick clip ad for the film. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. However, Kino does ship this release with a non-embossed slipcover.

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My wife and I absolutely love Monk, and I would say that we both had the same reaction to Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie: we liked it but didn't love it. It didn't feel necessary. It doesn't end with the same satisfying feeling that we were left with at the end of season eight. It feels tacked on. It's fun, it's good, it's just not...necessary. Anyway, the Blu-ray is solid, technically, though I do wish there had been more in the way of extras. Recommended.