Monster
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Movie Reviews of Monster
Movie Review: Patty Jenkins turns a monster in a pitiable figure of horror
Summary: 5 Stars
"Monster" could easily be overwhelmed by two external factors. The first is the true story of Aileen Carol Wuornos, who was actually named "America's first female serial killer" by the "Guinness Book of World Records." Wuornos has been the subject of two documentatries by Nick Broomfield , 1992's "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer" and 2003's "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer," which followed her execution in Florida in 2002, and there are countless other testaments to the crimes for which she was executed. It is hard not to walk into this movie and not know that this women is going to kill again and again.It is equally impossible to watch this film and not know about Charlize Theron's transformation into Aileen Wuornos. The story of her weight gain and the make up job that made it difficult to remember this is a beautiful woman are now a Hollywood legend, the feminine counterpart to Robert De Niro's efforts in "Raging Bull," especially now that her performance has been eternally validated by Theron's Oscar for Best Actress. The performance is indeed superb, a case of completely inhabiting a part. What stands out is not what Theron did to her body but what she does with it: the looks and mannerisms that create this compelling character. Ultimately, the performance is so good that you forget the external reasons why "Monster" would be overwhelmed and just become immersed in the story.
What surprised me the most about writer-director Patty Jenkins's film is that it struck me as being a love story more than a horror story. That is to say, that it has the structure of one. Throughout the film we get bits and pieces of Aileen's life story, enough to know that she has been the victim of abuse and that years of being a prostitute have driven her down to the point of contemplating suicide. That is when Aileen meets Selby (Christina Ricci), a young lesbian trying to take her first steps out of the closet. Aileen has only suffered at the hands of men, so Selby's youth and innocence is very attractive. Aileen wants to stop hooking, but to get money so that she and Selby can get a hotel room and party for a week is different because she can convince herself that this time she is doing it for somebody else. But if Aileen finally has a good person in her life fate gives him another punch in the face, literally, when she goes off in the car of a john who might be the worst person she has ever met.
In the context of this film the first man that Aileen Wuornos killed deserved it. Not just in terms of what he did to her but in terms of what could have happened next. Whether this is what really happened with the first john Wuornos murdered is debatable (after the trial it turned out he had served ten years for a violent rape in another state), this becomes a pivotal event in Jenkins's film. However Aileen does not start killing more johns at that point. What she tries to do is find a "real" job. Of course, she does not have the education or the temperament to do anything other than what she has been doing. Aileen does not want to go back to hooking, but she also wants to keep Selby happy, and so she finds an alternative in killing the johns.
It is not clear if Aileen only kills Johns at this point. She does not kill all of her johns seen in the film but she clearly intended to, getting herself into the proper frame of mind by convincing herself that all of these men want to beat her and rape her like her first victim. The tragedy here is that, in the context of the film, this was a woman who wanted to make a better life, but her old life was such that in her warped mind this was the only thing that she can do. Even as she is killing men who do not deserve to be killed, there is a sense that her history and fate have conspired against her. It is too much to feel real sympathy for Aileen, but in the tradition of horror films, Jenkins has made her "Monster" a truly pitiable figure.
At the end of the film there we are provided two bits of information. In terms of the real life story of Aileen Wuornos it is the second one, telling us about her execution in 2002, that that would seem to be the more important one. But in the context of "Monster," it is the first one that tells us of what the character of Aileen would have considered the end of her life.
Movie Review: Theron and Ricci Dominate Harsh, Unyielding Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Charlize Theron burst on the movie scene in the usual "starlet" fashion, sexing up the big screen in such movies as "Two Days in the Valley" and "The Devil's Advocate." Her sex appeal was undeniable, and for those who had the patience to look closer at those lightweight films, her acting was generally good.
What a difference a role can make!!!! Theron virtually disappears into her role as Aileen Wuorno, "America's First Female Serial Killer," in Patty Jenkins' "Monster." While much has been made of the superficial aspects of the role (such as Theron's much-publicized weight gain and harsh, gritty make-up), Theron mastered the more difficult job of embodying the mannerisms and expressions of a woman who never really had a shot at life. A grim demeanor that occasionally melts into pure happiness, self-conscious arm gestures and hair adjustments that occasionally morph into unconscious pleasure, and a stance that goes from awkward confusion to empowered confidence -- Theron has all these down cold, so much so that you're not even aware of an actress being on screen -- you're watching Aileen Wuorno.
Aileen Wuorno, according to the film, was a cipher, a nobody condemned to a life of prostitution by circumstance and indifference. A lesser movie would have found excuses for her nefarious deeds, and while "Monster" shows that there may have been some rationale behind Aileen's killings, there is no justification.
Aileen is down to her last $5 and is making her peace with God when she runs into Selby (Christina Ricci, in a wonderful performance), a naive young gal exiled to relatives in Daytona Beach by her Iowa family so she can be "cured" over her lesbianism. These two desperate souls soon develop a tight bond, and we get the sense that the romantic "couples-skate" at the roller rink is the first moment of pure peace and joy these two have experienced in quite some time. Watch Theron's furious, hostile face melt as she sees something in Sel's eyes that she never expected -- acceptance.
With no skills but with a reproductive system, Aileen has turned to life as a highway prostitute. Her first murder is pure self-defense, but as we watch her pump extra bullets into the dead body of her attacker, we see the vast reserve of rage that has been built up inside this poor woman. Aileen learns that murder can be more profitable that prostitution, and she rationalizes her early killings with the idea that the men she's killing are scum of the earth . . . an idea that the movie (correctly) refuses to sustain.
Sel doesn't challenge Aileen, and is generally content to be kept by her new friend. Watching Ms. Ricci inhabit this weak, lost character is a wonder, for after watching her in assertive, intelligent roles ("The Addams Family," "The Opposite of Sex") one could not imagine her a little cork bobbing along in someone else's wake.
Eventually the murders catch up with the duo, and it is worth noting that Aileen's victims become less than less "deserving" of their fate (indeed, the last "john" she kills isn't a john at all, but a good samaritan at the wrong place at the wrong time). But by this time, Aileen's horrorific life has scarred her beyond redemption, and a helping hand must be chopped off before it can touch her.
Aileen's fate is a foregone conclusion - we all know how things turn out. The power of "Monster" comes in the telling -- we may shed a tear at the end of "Monster," but it's not because we know that a good woman is going to die. It's because we have been reminded that there are people in this world whose lot in life is so pathetic that their Holy Grail is merely to live a hum-drum, normal life, and there is no chance in hell for that to ever happen.
A solid movie from start to finish that is dominated by stellar acting (even the supporting actors are excellent), "Monster" is a must-see. Put it in the category of movies like "The Passion of the Christ," "Saving Private Ryan," "Platoon," and "The Accused" -- these aren't the kinds of movies that you're going to pop into the DVD player every Friday night. But these are movies that demand to be seen, and they deserve to be.
Movie Review: An film about human character
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Ya Can't help but like this film....
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't help but say Charlize's effort alone at portraying America's female serial killer Aileen Wuarnos, is worth the five stars. But the movie was sad to me. You can't help but feel sympathy for alieen in the film and real life. By the way, they wrote the movie way before Aileen's confessions that she made up the stories about her being raped and attacked, and they had already wrote it into the movie. Also, a while ago I was at a hotel and there was nothing on except a documentary about Aileen, and I watched it and I couldn't help but feel sympatthy for her. It's very easy to say she deserved to be executed, for her cold blooded murders. Towards the end, the interviews showed her paranoid delusions, and she believed they put camaras in her cell, and she kept saying "it's all a conspiracy, they are now controlling my brain waves and making me ill." Those are ramblings of a skitsophrenic. Lets not forget her police conspiracy theory. How they made her a killer by not catching her even when she had a record and left her fingerprints everywhere. And her detailed self defense story raises serious question about her mental health. Like how he put alcohol on her after he raped her. It was all lies. She clearly had a mental illness that was probably not overlooked but rather ignored. And at the end of the documentary, they played this song that she wanted played at her wake, by natalie merchant. I forget the title but it went "I walked these streets in a spectacle of wealth and poverty.." I don't think it's wrong to feel sympathy for sick people, and she did do a terrible thing, and I'm not sure if executing a mentally insane person was the solution which is also what the interviewer said after they excuted her in 2002 i think it was. She also said that when the "rock hits us in the future" she will be riding on the rock in a space ship or something weird along those lines. Obviously, that is not a stable person talking, and her laugh was high pitched like a witch. No doubt about giving me the creeps, but if you heard her life growing up, her mom abandoned her, she was sleeping on the streets, having to have sex for money to buy food. It's not an excuse, but how we grow up, shapes our adult characters teremendously. I am not condoning turning to homicide just because you had a hard life. Alot of us have had tough times. But even her mother said she suffered brain damage when she was born, when she was giving birth to her, she went without oxygyn for too long. Next, her lover betrayed her, which of course is the right thing (turning her in). But all her life, no one loved her it seems. Every person she trusted either betrayed her or abandoned her. We don't even know if Alieen felt remorse or not for killing those men. In the film, aileen cried before shooting that guy who begged for his life and pleeded to her how he had children and a wife. I just think she was mentally disturbed and couldnt help it. Even good people turn bad. You'd have to know your psychology to understand, and she even had a relationship with selby and took care of her girl, so if she was able to love her, she isnt completely cold blooded and heartless. People can kill and feel remorse. I just think it's a chemical imbalance or brain damage. There's a difference between killing and enjoying it, and killing on impulse and being unable to control yourself. There are so many mental illnesses we cant even begin to understand unless you have one of those diseases. Like skitsophrenia. Paranoid delusions, where you think everyone's after you, when it's not the case at all. I think if this movie focused more on her early years that led up to when she met selby and started killing, maybe it would help with understanding the circumstances that led up to her murders.Movie Review: A monster of a performance!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on the true story of Aileen Wournos, the first female serial killer in U.S. history, Monster deals with her life and how the situations she was subjected to ended up making her what she became. However, this is done in such a way as to not free Wournos of all the blame. Sure, she went through a lot and she didn't start up to become a serial killer, but she could, at one point, had stopped, yet she chose to continue that path.The film's intro quickly puts us up to date on who Aileen (Theron) is. She was a little girl who dreamed of big things, but who got lost along the way ending up hooking when she was thirteen years old. She keeps looking for her big break, that one opportunity, that one man who will see her for what she is and take her away from the life she knows and to something better.
When we first meet Lee, as she likes to be called, she's about to kill herself, sitting in the rain under a highway bridge. For some reason, she decides against suicide and walks into a gay bar where she finds Selby Ward (Ricci), a young woman who's been sent by her parents to stay at some friends house and try to "see the light" and change her homosexual ways.
They don't realize it at first, but this fortuitous meeting gives both women what they were looking for. They become fast friends and eventually lovers, even though Lee clearly indicates she's not a lesbian. Lee sees in Selby that person who will love her unconditionally and with whom it will be worthwhile to build a new life. Selby sees in Wournoss the first person who not only doesn't mind her sexual orientation, but also someone who will take care of her and provide for all the things she's ever wanted.
While turning tricks one night to make money to be with Selby, Lee stumbles into a crazy man who rapes and tortures her, and who intends to kill her. She manages to free herself from the ropes that tie her hands and shoots her john in self defense. She takes his money and his car, and takes Selby away with her to star their new life. She decides to stop working as a prostitute and unsuccessfully tries to find an honest job, but she gets rejected every time. All the while, Selby is growing anxious because she wants to have all the things that Lee offered her, but since she's not working anymore, they start to run out of money. Defeated and not wanting to let Selby down, Lee decides to return to prostitution, but instead of turning tricks, she starts killing and robbing her clients.
This goes on for a while, as their relationship starts to go sour. Lee is desperate to do whatever she needs to to keep Selby, while Selby, consciously or not, forces her to continue killing people.
I won't spoil the ending if I tell you that Aileen eventually gets captured and sentenced to death row (this is a true story). The goal of the movie is to present Lee and Selby's relationship, and to raise the question of which one of the is the real monster. Is it Lee for killing all those people in cold blood? Is it Selby for making her continue? Is it society for making her what she became? You be the judge of that.
What makes this film relevant is the acting. Most of the screen time is shared by Theron and Ricci and they both do wonderful jobs. Ricci is excellent as the naive, scared Selby, but the film belongs start to end to Theron. Her transformation into Wournos is truly amazing and goes far beyond the great makeup used to make her look like the real Lee. She not only gained a lot of weight (around 30lbs.) but she also adopted many of Wournos' mannerisms (one can only assume). The way she talks, the way she laughs, how she walks, she completely disappears into the role. All in all the best female performance of the year and truly deserving of all the awards she's earned.