Monster
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Movie Reviews of Monster
Movie Review: Theron's tour de force
Summary: 5 Stars
Whenever I suggest an acting performance worthy of an Oscar, it's understood that my recommendation is debatable. Not so Charlize Theron's tour de force in MONSTER, which transcends argumentative discussion. It's the performance of this decade, and perhaps any decade you'd care to mention. If it doesn't win her the Academy Award for best actress in a leading role, then there's no justice and the Oscars will forever lose all credibility with me. No other performance by a female actor in 2003 comes even close. Not Kidman, not Johansson, not Keaton, or anyone else you'd be tempted to mention. And I'll even sell down the river my personal favorite, Cate Blanchett.In January 1991, aging prostitute Aileen Wuornos was arrested in Florida. She was suspected of killing seven men since 1989, leaving their bullet-riddled bodies near highways, and stealing their cars and cash. In January 1992, Wuornos was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, mostly on the evidence of her own confessions and the testimony of her lesbian lover during the killing spree, Tyria Moore. In October 2002, the state took her life. MONSTER is Aileen's story.
Even a cursory reading of the Wuornos tragedy on the Web will indicate the challenge of Charlize's incredibly taxing role. It's not just the make-up (shaved eyebrows, false teeth), body alteration (thirty pounds added weight), and costumes that the actress put on for the role. It's the walk, talk, nervous mannerisms and body language. Even aura, if you believe in such. Theron is unrecognizable as herself. The transformation is apocalyptically stunning.
The film does, of course, take liberties. Tyria Moore, 24-years old when she met Wuornos in 1986, becomes "Selby" (Christina Ricci), who's about 18 in the script. The screenplay inferred to me a time span of perhaps several months for the Aileen-Selby relationship, and that the first killing occurred about when the two first met. In fact, Aileen and Tyria spent four years together, and the first murder was committed only towards the end. In any case, Ricci deserves consideration for an Oscar in a supporting role as the troubled, naive, and clueless Selby totally out of her depth.
At one point, Theron's Aileen states that she was raped by her father's friends, and that he subsequently beat her for it. In fact, Aileen's real-life mother divorced Leo Dale Pittman a couple months before her daughter's birth and Aileen never met her natural father. Aileen and a brother were subsequently raised by their maternal grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos. The grandfather drank heavily and was physically abusive. Aileen engaged in pre-marital sex at an early age, and was pregnant at 14. After giving her child up for adoption, she ran away from home to take up hitchhiking and prostitution. While MONSTER doesn't excuse Aileen for her the murders she later committed, it reveals Wuornos for the emotionally and psychologically tortured casualty of life that she was and who, in the end, "volunteered" for the death penalty. In this case, execution may have been a mercy.
MONSTER gives evil a human face, a fact that will undoubtedly cause discomfiture in some critics who believe in a morally black and white world.
MONSTER isn't an easy presentation to watch. As the film unwound and the power of Theron's performance washed over me in waves, I found myself sliding lower and lower into my seat. The rape scene that sets Aileen on her murderous path is vicious. And it doesn't get any easier with the individual killings, especially the last when any vestige of sympathy the audience might have for Wuornos is forfeit. Based solely on the intensity of the subject matter, MONSTER goes up against HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG as arguably the Best Picture of the year.
Movie Review: Why won't anyone be nice to Aileen Wurnos??
Summary: 5 Stars
I sometimes wonder why more people can't be nice. I wonder why the sins of the father have to plague the lives of his children. Why people rape, abuse, hurt, and maim. In a perfect world everyone would be happy. In a perfect world no one would ever want. In a perfect world a women like Aileen Wurnos would not have been sentenced to die on death row, and in a real world I wouldn't have to write about a movie like MONSTER. It's a movie that drips with exceptional performances, and yet leaves your soul so cold to the core.MONSTER is the tragic true story of a woman who longed for a friend, and nobody came to her aid. It stars Charlize Theron (The Devil's Advocate) as Aileen Wurnos, one of the first women to ever die on death row. Of course the film doesn't begin that way, when we first meet her she's sitting in the rain with a gun contemplating ending it all. You see she's has no future. She has nothing but a past that's not worth repeating, and all she has in the world is in a storage locker. What little money she has, is gained by being a prostitute. But one day in a little bar in Daytona Beach, Florida she meets and falls for a woman that finally makes her happy.
The woman is named Selby (Christina Ricci, The Opposite of Sex), and she's a young lesbian just trying to figure out the world for herself. At first this relationship puts Aileen on cloud nine. She's willing to do anything to provide for the first person that ever loved her.
But one night when Aileen kills a john who gets a little to rough, a series of events take our characters on a one way trip with destiny. Leaving the landscape of these two women's lives are forever changed. If only someone had just been nice to Aileen.
MONSTER is not a happy film. It's one of those movies that leaves you dead at the end. You lose faith in humanity; you lose faith in yourself. I like these kinds of movies, cause they convict me. Here I am a young guy who sometimes gets ticked off at a driver in front of me on the road. For one split moment I have murderous anger when that guy cuts me off. What if I was in Aileen's situation? Would I do the same thing? I would hope not, but hey you never know.
If there is one performance that will tear you up inside this year, it's Theron's. For the entire movie you can hardly believe that this is, in real life, a beautiful women. Theron throws all the glamour out the window, gaining weight and frumping herself up to the point of being ugly. This is a complete 360 and she's so engrossing. She carries the film to heights. A lesser actress might turn in a wonderful performance, but Theron was Aileen. This is some brilliant acting.
I also give Kudos to Bruce Dern . His character has the distinction of being the only person who shows any real compassion for Aileen. While a small role it sticks out because it's the only real bit of bright light in an otherwise dark and gloomy picture.
The screenplay by Patty Jenkins (Who also directed) does a great job of giving Aileen and those around her life. What Aileen did was reprehensible. What she did was evil, and she must pay for that. But it allows for sympathy. Not all evil is dark and black, and not all people who murder are 100% culpable. But yet you reap what you sow no matter what you're past.
MONSTER is a well-made, brilliantly acted film that's not for the weak of heart. It's engaging, engrossing, and realistic. I think I want to rush out and get the silliest comedy I can find right now, because I need something to offset the dark tone of this film. While it get a fine recommendation, I just hope that the next time you feel like treating someone like crap, you'll remember just how tragic the life of Aileen Wurnos turned tragic because nobody reached out.
Movie Review: The best movie, and best performance, of 2003.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Monster" is easily one of the most gripping movies to come along in years, owing to both the potent subject matter and the stellar performances by the two female leads. It is a sad, brutal story about the unfortunate lives of two women who find solace in each other, and their struggle for survival leads to a murder spree that produced America's first female serial killer. Based on the true account of Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), her sad story will grip you from the beginning. She was a prostitute from the age of 13, and has led the hardest of lives. She has never known love, affection, and has lived on a wing and a prayer. The real life Wuornos claimed to have slept with over 250,000 men in her lifetime. One night, she meets a young kindred spirit named Selby (Christina Ricci). She lives under slightly better circumstances, but still feels detached from the rest of society, being a lesbian in a strictly religious family. What blossoms is a love story between these two girls. Wuornos is not a lesbian per-se, but she is smitten with Selby, who is the first person to love her for who she really is, and not treat her like trash and cast her aside. One fateful encounter with a vicious john and potential killer turns the tide. Wuornos kills a john who has beat and raped her, and if given the chance, would have killed her. This starts her down a pit with greasy sides, and she takes to the streets and kills as many johns who will pick her up. Her motives are both money and survival, for her and Selby, who is naïve and squeamish but willing to play along. Her initial killing was justifiable, and the audience will empathize with her for it, but the murders that ensue become more and more senseless.
"Monster" is not a morality tale, nor does it condone or condemn the crimes Wuornos commits. It tells the story of one life that started in the gutter and never quite crawled out. Wuornos is a character who is both physically and personally unattractive, drunk and mouthy throughout most of the movie, but you cannot help but feel sadness for her, though you don't forgive her for the crimes she commits. The Selby character is the Yin to the Yang in this case. She is much younger than Wuornos, and while open about her homosexuality, she is still confused and somewhat disillusioned about the world around her. She is in it for the love and security, while Wuornos is surprised that she can love at all after the life she's lived.
There has been much buzz about Charlize Theron's powerhouse performance, so much that it has overshadowed every other aspect of the movie. The hype, however, is very much deserved. Theron doesn't just play the part, she becomes it. She plays with honesty and conviction that we rarely see in performances nowadays. Even more shocking is how she has transformed for the role. The makeup effects aside (which add 10 years to her life), she gained 30 pounds for the role, and her physical appearances suggest countless rapes, beatings, and the ravages of hard living and consumption. The transformation has to be seen to be believed. Christina Ricci has only gotten better with age, and while this role is more subdued than her best (The Opposite of Sex leaps to mind), she is fantastic as always.
What I respect most about "Monster" is that it is not overly dramatic in trying to humanize some pretty nasty characters, nor does it pander to the typical Hollywood clichés. Having said that, it is also doesn't pull any punches. The violence and rape scenes will leave scars on more sensitive viewers, but even the most dismissive viewers cannot deny the impact of this movie, and the performance of Theron will stand as one of the best female lead roles in recent years.
Movie Review: A Modern Day "Bonnie & Clyde"
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me preface this by saying that "Monster" is in my opinion the best film of 2004, but it may also be one of the most infuriating for me personally. You see, as a fairly unattractive human being, it's always bothered me when gorgeous people have complained about not being taken seriously, and I guess I never really thought that this was a concern of Charlize Theron's. I mean, she's always been one of the sexiest actresses in Hollywood, and extremely capable in guilty-pleasures like "The Italian Job" and "Reindeer Games" (yes, I really liked that movie). But the one thing we, the average-looking people of Earth, have always had on her and her kind, was that we made really great, gritty, personal films. Now, though, even that's being taken away from us. With this movie, she, along with writer/director Patty Jenkins, have taken our last bastion of usefulness. Soon we'll all be expendable...I write this in jest, of course, but her performance truly is exceptional, and not just because of the physical transformation, which in my opinion has slightly overshadowed just how remarkable her embodiment of the character really is. This is one of "those," and by those, I mean something that simply can't be put into words. Oh, and by the way, the movie ain't bad either.
How good is it? Let me tell you a brief story. I walked nearly two miles in twenty-below windchills to see this film the first day of it's release in Toledo. And as I settled into my seat, beginning to warm up, all I could think about was how miserable the walk home was gonna be (I'd have to cover the same distance, only this time without the sunlight). But soon thereafter, the projector began to roll, and as the movie started, everything else just seemed to fade away. I was hooked. I sat riveted to my seat, and never once thought about the long trek home, or any other external factor for that matter. Wanna know what's more impressive? When I finally did get around to leaving the theater to head home, I didn't even notice how cold it was. I just kept replaying the movie in my head, over and over again. Some scenes are just that unforgettable.
For example, the "Judas" scene, as I've come to dub it. We all know that it's coming, at least anyone familiar with law enforcement does, yet when it happens, somehow it manages not lose a bit of it's potency or power. Now that's filmmaking! The camera pans, we see a shadow on the wall, and suddenly the betrayal becomes hauntingly clear.
Having said that, you may ask, "What are the film's faults," and I'd be naive to deny that there aren't some, the most obvious of which being that Aileen, as portrayed in this film, comes off as entirely too sympathetic. I was with her every step of the way and, though I already knew the outcome, was still hoping for the happy ending I knew was never going to come. Whose fault is this, you ask? The answer might surprise you.
Christina Ricci. That's right, the little girl from "The Adams Family" is the linchpin of this film. It's only because of her, and the way she's able to make us, the audience, fall in love with her, that we're able to understand, and even empathize with Aileen. I can even pinpoint the exact moment that this happens. It's as the couple, Aileen and Selby (Ricci), rollerblade to a 80's rock ballad, a song that I never really cared for, but having seen it in the context of this film have come to appreciate (not unlike Martin Scorsese's brilliant knack for taking so-so pop songs and making them transcend their cheesiness). But getting back to "the moment," Charlize looks deep into her big, brown eyes, the music swells, and that's it. She had me, and so did this film.
Movie Review: Can of Worms - Monster are the real world
Summary: 5 Stars
Monster. For some reason, the title fit well for how the world treated Aileen Wornos when she was alive. But for some people she was the real monster, not the victims she murdered when she was alive.
The story began with a picture of Aileen Wuornos, sitting under the bridge with a gun in her hand, in the most lowest point of her life, where she was completely lost & feeling hopeless. With a monologue for the insights of the history of her life, it rewinds back to a young lesbian, who was taking her first steps to come out from the closet - regardless how her family objections, named Selby. Selby was a shy, lonely lesbian, struggling to find a perfect start to get a compainion, I guess, and decided to go to a gay bar to try her chances. And there, she met the pathetic, messed up looking blonde woman, who was a bit of homophobic at first, who introduced herself as Aileen.
After spending time together, Selby & Aileen got emotionally attracted and Aileen decided she would get some money for their next date by hooking bit earlier that day so she could treat Selby. Unfortunately for her, she the last customer of the night, she met the most horrible man that would effect the rest of her life. She got beaten & rape not to forget, he almost killed her, if she wouldn't had escape the bondage he put her in when she was out, and killed her out of self defence.
Honestly speaking, yes, she would have done better if reporting it to the police, but since she was a hooker, would she really had a chance in court? - but then again, I guess she loved Selby that much, she afraid, she might lose her if she didn't come for their date.
So, this was the beginning mark of their field trip together escaping the authorities, and Aileen, despite people not giving her a chance to change her lifestyle with a legal job for a chance, more accurately kind of blew her off and humiliate her in the process as well - she went back hooking.
But never did she realize, the experience with the guy who she killed once, left her with a phobia. A foreplay reminded her of him and fear crept up, scared that this guy is just the same with the guy she murdered. That he might kill her too. So she killed her first 'innocent' victim - I say 'innocent' since he was married and still went out to get a hooker (seriously what kind of man is that?) - she stole his money and car.
Later on their misfit adventure, Selby - who I feel lazy and a golddigger - grew away from Aileen, decided to go out and be with another lesbian. Seriously, if that other lesbian didn't meet up with her old fling, Selby would had had broke up with Aileen and run off to her, but she didn't and Selby felt alone again, with her tail between her legs, cuddle with Aileen once more.
Mostly at the end, Selby just betrayed Aileen - I guess she just wish to get a better looing lesbian gf than her in the inside - and turned Aileen in to the authorities to pointing guilty directions at her. And what I don't get is, Selby should had had gone spend time in prison too, but she didn't. She knew but she didn't spend time. Now that's a bit sad, and infuriating.
Bottomline, this movie has open up a few cans of worms discussions about death penalty and murderers. Referring to her traumatized childhood and experiences, did she really deserved it or not. For what I care, I think she be better off spending the rest of her time in a mental instituition and death. But then again, death perhaps was a blessing for her life full of miseries. But then again, do we really have the right to take a life away from a living person? Evil or not?