Monster

Rating:
Summary: Theron's Performance is Ferocious
Review: A while ago, I wrote a slightly hysterical review because the first time I saw the film, I was completely taken aback by Theron's performance. Now I'm able to write a more rational review.

Now I disagree with some of the reviewers that state that this film induced too much sympathy in Aileen's favor(by now I'm sure we all know who that is,lol). I think that the director actually did a good job with that facet. One minute, I found Aileen truly despicable, and the next, I felt inexpressible sorrow for her, and how her life had formed.People who were dissapointed that this movie wasn't "factual" enough, need to go rent a documentary. I don't think it was the film's point to lay out all the facts on the table, this movie wanted to focus more on the psychological side of things, and Aileen's personal struggle. And it does a very good job of doing that. What bothered me were the voice-overs on Theron's part.They were cliche, and completely pointless; Theron's performance provided enough insight into Wuornos, and the voice overs were just too much, I felt.What REALLY bothered me was the director's choice to make Aileen's trial,and the outcome seem trivial, and lightheaded. You don't see anything of the trial, and then when Aileen is convicted, some booming, Bruce Springsteen style rock anthem comes on. Suddenly all the emotion you were feeling is shifted by some 80's tune.It was really out of place.

But, of course, the whole thing works thanks to Theron's magnificent performance. The hype is true, and the academy honored her with a well deserved oscar just recently. She completely becomes this character, and I'm not just talking about the physical part of it either; she adopts all her mannerisms,and traits making it seem like the woman on screen is a true human being, and just a gorgeous Hollywood starlet with 30 extra pounds on. Her performance is real, and raw, and completely riveting. She completely takes over and works this movie around herself. Christina Ricci was underrated, and totally excellent as Aileen's lover. She played her role off with not a bump in the road.

All in all, this movie is saved by a very strong supporting role, and a fearless,wonderful leading one.

Rating:
Summary: Relating a Horrifying Tale with Restraint
Review: The story of prostitute/serial killer Aileen Wuornos is harrowing, gut-wrenching, tough and unsavory. The fact that writer/director Patty Jenkins was able to bring it to the screen as a deeply disturbing and yet equally deeply moving biography of a self proclaimed 'monster' is very much to her credit and her obvious gifts. The tale of a young woman, abused as a child, and surviving by being a prostitute since the age of thirteen is told with credibility and restraint and the film is all the more powerful for it. The title role is an acting miracle in Charlize Theron's hands. She is utterly submerged in the character that, despite the murders and thefts she perpetrates on her drive-by johns, she makes us understand the motivations behind the murders: we are placed in a state of identifying with her pain, her rage, and her terror. Wuornos' only friends are Tom (Bruce Dern) and Selby (Christina Ricci), the latter a very young, closeted lesbian who falls in love with Wuornos and provides her with the only real love she has ever experienced. Selby's relationship with Wuornos is the first lesbian encounter for our murdering prostitute and the two actors find the quiet core of love that is possible even the worst of circumstances. Christina Ricci finds the right center of her character's ambiguity of lovesick bystander and supportive accomplice to Wuornos' chaotic life.
Charlize Theron delivers a brilliant performance, one of the more fully realized characters of the past few years. But then every aspect of this dark film is so real that we feel we as audience are direct on-the-scene observers. Not a film for the squeamish, but certainly a major cinematic achievement on the part of all connected.

Rating:
Summary: An film about human character
Review: A real life prostitute who flips and kills six people seems perfect TV-movie material, but not for a genuine attempt to interpret the character with anything other than the most cynical, shock-laden, exploitative eye. Monster, about the killings of Aileen Wuornos, proves otherwise.

Using a simplified narrative, and pseudonyms for all the characters except Wuornos, Monster covers the penultimate period of Wuornos's life where she killed six people before her 1991 arrest. The film begins with a portrayal of someone on the verge of suicide. From there we see her find love, nearly lose everything (in one of the few genuinely harrowing scenes in this film) to a murderous rapist, and, apparently change from a victim into a flawed avenging angel. There's some clever use of irony and artistic license here - one implication, for example, is that the first person to die at the hands of Wuornos intended to kill Wuornos after raping her, implying that he would have ended up being a serial killer had he succeeded.

Much has been made of Charlize Theron's Oscar winning performance as Wuornos, a credit she certainly deserves. Without her delivery and her control over the character, writer and director Patty Jenkins would not have made as powerful a case as she has. Wuornos's powerful personality, outer strength, and inner insecurities, are masterfully portrayed. I'm lead to believe by people I know with connections to Wuornos that Theron's Wuornos persona was spot on. Theron is able to make us feel sympathetic towards the character even in the midst of some terrible crimes, where you feel like screaming at her to stop, for her sake as well as her victim's.

Not having heard of Wuornos before this film's release, I wanted to know where Jenkins got her story from, and mostly drew blanks. Looking on the 'net you could be forgiven for believing a conspiracy exists to hide who Wuornos was. The media and police needed a serial killer and presented Wuornos as one. When problems with her conviction for the murder of Richard Mallory became apparent, advocates for rape victims and victims of prostitution intervened portraying the somewhat sociopathic six times killer as an almost innocent victim of a justice system biased against women. To death penalty advocates, she was a convenient embodiment of evil to use to demonstrate the justice executions supposedly serve. Everyone, probably including Jenkins herself, seems to have their own Aileen Wuornos around, a canvas to settle an argument or prove a point.

Wuornos wasn't simply a "highway prostitute" as described by the movie, she also took part in a variety of crimes before meeting her partner three years before Mallory's 1989 death; she even served prison time in 1981 for an armed robbery. Wuornos's claim that the killing of Mallory was self defense was initially met with skepticism, but with Mallory's record - never revealed to the Jury and involving a ten year sentence for a violent rape - and with inconsistencies in her original, dark and unhinged, explanations for the death, it's possible that Mallory did indeed attack her. But it's also hard to believe that the need to kill, in self defense, arose six times in the space of a year.

It is believable that, as Jenkins describes, a defensive killing during a horrific attack may push a very insecure, amoral, and frustrated woman over the edge. In this respect, regardless of the specifics of the Wuornos case, Jenkins has made a believable and informative film about human character and the choices we make. Whether it is an accurate portrayal of Wuornos though is something that can only be answered by seven people no longer alive to tell us.

The story may not be historically accurate, but it doesn't matter. A powerful performance, well paced script, and decent direction makes this a compelling and thought-provoking film. Well worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Performances Highlight Disturbing Film
Review: In 1992 Aileen Wuornos (1956-2002) stood trial for the murder of Richard Mallory in Florida. Clearly dangerous and disturbed, Wuornos was an extremely belligerent, aggressive personality, and her frequent outbursts and several bizarre circumstances turned the trial into a media circus. Convicted of Mallory's death, Wuornos also confessed to the murders of six others and remains a suspect in at least two unsolved homicides. She was executed in 2002.

But for all the drama of the 1992 trial, MONSTER sidesteps this aspect of the Wuornos story. It instead focuses on Wuornos herself and her relationship with lover Selby (in real life Tyria J. Moore, the name change likely due to legal issues.) And while it plays fast and loose with the facts--particularly re the Selby character--it offers a relentlessly fearsome portrait of an incredibly damaged woman whose rage twists into a vicious killing spree.

Charlize Theron, previously better known for good looks than acting skill, gives an inspired performance as Wuornos, seeming to inhabit the character; it is truly frightening to watch her. Although the script's Selby is hardly in the same league with real-life Tyria J. Moore, Ricci too is quite fine--a mixture of innocence and soullessness that is often quite as disturbing as Theron's more flamboyant performance. The supporting cast is also very good, with Bruce Dern notable as a biker friend and Scott Wilson particularly memorable as Wuornos' final victim.

When I recently saw the film in theatrical release I found quite a few audience members walked out on the film in disgust. And for all the power of the performances and the great artistry of the film, this is likely to be a real issue for any one who sees MONSTER. The film does an extraordinary job of making us see Wuornos and Selby as human beings--and as pitiful human beings whose lives were largely warped and twisted by circumstance rather than personal choice. Even so, both characters are dangerous, mean, manipulative, and vicious in different ways, and our pity for them will not stretch far enough to cover that.

In the final analysis, I do recommend the film. But before you rush to see it simply because it picked up a well-deserved Academy Award for Theron, you might do well to ask yourself: do I really want to know these people? And if you are unsure, you'd probably do better to give it a miss--for you might well be one of the people walking out midway through.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: A powerfully disturbing movie........
Review: I recently went to see this movie. The key character, played by Charlize Theron, is a deeply disturbed woman, with a troubled and traumatic youth background, that was never helped.

This character learned to survive by prostituting herself. The men who have hurted her, some how, came back to haunt her. What I mean is that the "victimization" and "revictimization" resurfaced by the past, in part, because she was very young;in the present, as an older woman, because she no longer felt defenseless and vulnerable. And, one particular and disturbing experience, sets her off. What I mean, her youth and her present adult state of mind from that point on, it becomes survival.

She has reasons, many, for not trusting men. She has even more reasons for not trusting people. Who came to her rescue when she was a young eight year old girl? no one. She meets a lesbian woman, played by Christina Ricci. Both have different views of men. Chritians's character is due to her sexual orientation; Charlize's is due to vulnerability, hurt, pain, distrust, exploitation, deep and unresolved emotinal hurts.

This movie is in one word: powerful. I remain objective. There are many, unfortunate victims, and if one is a victim and "learns" to survive by not allowing "revictimization" to ever happen again, then, others need to understand why certain people think like they do, even if in understanding at the basic level the trauma. When Charlize's character expresses "I didn't have a choice," it brings about two issues: her past and her "one" choice. She did not have a choice, but deeper than this, is that she didn't have to make her one and only choice her one and only choice. Perhaps, psychologists???? may have a deeper understanding, perhaps??? I often question certain observations by "leading experts."

This movie would be ideal in a criminal justice, law, political science, sociology, and psychology classes. At the root of this movie, undeniably, is a hurt kid who never healed and perhaps, never knew or learned or was helped in the processing of healing.

Many thanks,

Diego Rodriguez

Rating:
Summary: Her brilliant work yet
Review: The movie is on its own a work of art, finding a fresh approach to what we may never take a chance to understand, Charlize deserves her oscar, She earned it, What a work of art.... Keep it up girl,,,, Proudly South African

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Performance
Review: It was pretty quiet when everyone left the theater. A shocked silence is the most likely result of watching Monster, which, at every turn, manages to stun and sicken the average viewer. It is a story of crime and the darkness in human nature that we so often like to ignore. Monster is sure to make this evident, as everything is absolutely thrown into your face with an unremitting sense of savage urgency. You literally become engulfed in this violent cacophony of brutality, and it becomes hard to separate yourself from the events on the screen. This story is bolstered by the absolutely brilliant performance delivered by the transformed Charlize Theron, who is possessive in her role as female serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Monster is not a movie you will forget.

The tale of Wuornos is instantly a deviant one to the viewer. She is a woman who once had high hopes, cast low because of an abusive father and a sexually abusive upbringing. We are not given many details, but the effects are evident early on. Wuornos is getting money by selling herself on the highways of Florida, eking out a pitiful existence that is clearly taking a toll on every aspect of her life. She lives in truck stops and storage rooms, a friend to only the lowliest of society. Her life changes when she meets Selby, a young lesbian innocently played by Christina Ricci. The two, both desperate for security and love, find both in each other. Suddenly, they are thrown together, and they seek to live a normal life. This plan quickly falls apart as Wuornos is forced back to life on the road, by circumstances and her own instability. Every thing goes to pot when she is brutally attacked by a john, who she then kills. This event brings something out of her, a long simmering hatred of the men she is forced to be with to make money. Wuornos quickly falls in love with the idea of killing these men, as some sort of sick vengeance against all men who have abused her in life. Her relationship with Selby changes as both women are caught up in the increasingly violent world they have created.

The most stunning thing in Monster is Ms. Theron. Her performance is nothing short of spellbinding, and should serve as an example to all actors. I had been one to cast Theron off as just another pretty face, but she proved me wrong big time. You simply cannot take your eyes off her, to her credit, you forget that you are actually watching Theron. Her companion, Ricci, is satisfactorily cute and devilish at the same time, as she walks the moral tightrope that Wuornos has laid out. The story is very sharp, never meandering too much, delivering vicious examples of the brutal life the characters must live. It is not meant exclusively to shock, it has a purpose, to give a clearer view of the overall plot. While the movie is probably short on historical realism, you soon lose most of your sympathy for Wuornos, no matter how much abuse she has gone through. Just an amazing movie.

Rating:
Summary: DISTURBING! UPSETTING!!
Review: Honestly, I have NEVER seen a movie that has disturbed me this much! Since I have viewed this movie, I have not been able to sleep. I walked out of the theatre, as did everyone else that paid to see it. I would not suggest this title. This film also gives this relationship a sadistic over-tone. The world is bad enough as it is, why waste more of our energy emmercing in past negatvity? This movie is right-out, horrific. I could not stand it, nor could anyone else that was present. Others felt that this films depicited homosexual reltationships in a negatvie light. I have to agree. This was a horrific tale, that should have been left to a documentary. THIS MOVIE WAS HORRIBLE!

Rating:
Summary: Charlize gets an "A+".... Movie gets an "F"
Review: "Monster" focuses on the true life story of a woman named Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron). Aileen became a prostitute at the age of thirteen. However, years later she is growing tired of the life and is struggling to find a reason to go on living. That is until she meets a woman who is a lesbian named Selby (Christina Ricci). The two become friends, and the relationship eventually takes a romantic turn. Aileen tries to straighten her life out and make an honest living to support Selby and herself. Unfortunately, after an endless search for jobs, her only alternative is to go back to being a prostitute. Things take a turn for the worse however, when Aileen begins to murder her clientele.

Before watching Monster, I was very excited to see the film because of how much praise Charlize Theron was receiving for her performance. Theron gives one of the best performances I have ever seen. She literally transformed herself into Aileen Wuornos. Everything from her violent attitude and the way that she talked, to the physical characteristics of the character. Charlize is an extremely beautiful woman in real life, and she looked down right hideous in the film. The physical change alone was shocking. However, the reason I can only give Monster three stars is because the movie did not have much else going for it. While the interpretation of events were accurate, the movie was boring overall, and Christina Ricci's character Selby came off as an annoying, whining, hypocrite. For example, Selby complains that there is no money coming in, and she convinces Aileen to go back to being a prostitute. Then when she starts hooking again, Selby cries and complains that Aileen is never around.

If Charlize Theron had not starred in Monster, it would not be worth watching. It is a shame, that a performance so good, was wasted on such a bad film. However, Theron's performance is so incredible, that it somehow lets you endure the film and marvel at her brilliance.

Rating:
Summary: Great Performances but a Shocking Movie
Review: I went to see "Monster" because there is so much talk of Charlize getting the Oscar this year. And yes, her performance does deserve it. She is totally convincing as this mass-murderer.
I also thought Christina Ricci deserved an award nomination as well for her role as the shy naive girlfriend.
However, I left the movie theatre feeling like I needed a shower. The violence is pretty shocking and stomach-turning. I know this is a true story, but I wish the film makers would have taken a slightly different route to telling the story. Maybe they felt they needed to show the murder scenes as realistically as possible to show exactly what happened.
It is sad to think what happened to Ailleen could happen to any person - her life was such a horrible disaster. Charlize portrays this perfectly, and I hope she gets the Oscar for it.