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Monster Customer Reviews (46 - 48 of 100 Reviews)

Aileen Carol Wuornos (2/29/59 - 10/9/02)
This movie is not for everyone. It's hard to take & depressing. It's the story of a lost, tortured soul who was certainly "walking wounded". She was a serial killer & by all accounts only the first killing was justified & the lowlife deserved his fate. The film tells the story of Aileen (Lee) Wuornos without justifying what she did. The viewer actually gets to know her as a human being & I sympathized with her to a degree. It's the humanization of her that made me sympathize with her. Otherwise, she'd just be another nut-job/hooker/murderer who also got what she deserved. There are some insights into her here & there in the film (molested as a child, raped by a family "friend", beaten by her father who later committed suicide, discarded by her siblings, became a prostitute at 13 to survive, battered by partners & cops, alcoholism etc.) that make you feel that this somewhat powerless & uneducated woman actually became addicted to killing once she started because it was a release of anger & hatred that had built up inside of her for so many years. I also felt sympathy for her because she wanted to "go straight" & work but she set her sights too high & was knocked down once again. Granted, the attempt to straighten her life out was mostly out of fear of being caught after she killed the first guy in self defense, but she also loved Selby & possibly wanted more "nomalcy" for them as a couple in that respect as well. I know the movie takes liberties with some facts. For example, the real Selby was not a whiny, naive nineteen year old, but a big bruiser who enjoyed instigating & egging Wuornos on into fights with others. Charlize Theron deserved her Oscar for portraying & transforming herself into this complex woman with so much passion & dedication.



I sentence Charlize Theron to the Oscar for this one
In Monster(2003), Theron plays Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute turned serial killer in Florida, who was eventually executed for her crimes.

Having seen much about Aileen on various news programs, documentaries, and crime shows, I was familiar with her courtroom antics, and her striking appearance. She was probably the only person on Earth anything close to Aileen Wournos. That is most likely a good thing.

The film centers on Aileen's relationship with a lesbian named Selby. They meet by chance, and have a bond that transcends sexuality, or common sense (as some might see it). Selby enters into Wournos' life at the wrong time, and is caught up in the whirlwind of a spree she may or may not have been fully aware of.

Christina Ricci is a weak-spined, naive, and tiny person compared to Theron (who gained 30 lbs for the role). She holds nowhere near the screen presence of her looming caretaker. As Ricci has not shown such absences in previous films, I believe this was a character choice, and is quite effective, though distracting. She's a bit uneven as Wuornos' lover, friend, concubine.

Theron, on the other hand, transforms her classic looks into a mirror image of the infamous female serial murderer. Gone are her curves and facial chisels. Here, she is simply unrecognizable.

Her performance lives up to the physicality on screen. Her Aileen is tough, desperate, deep, and troubled. Rarely can an actor portray so many levels of psyche whilst shooting guns, and baring a nude body covered in blood.

It's subjective whether or not Monster asks you to feel sorry for Wournos' plight. There is ample material to both fear her, and fear for children like her. That's one of the surprises about this film...just when you think you're being steered to an emotional level, you're taken down a completely opposite path.

Sadly, the film was not highly stylized, which would have added greatly to the immense portrayal of this woman. Beyond a tendency to stay in tight during dramatic moments, and some courier-style font for graphics, there is little to no tone set by the film.

All is left to Theron to carry.

She does not fail.

Simply a brilliant performance for the actress, and a chilling look at a woman who was a real Monster.

Monsters Are Created Not Born!
Wow....................

Charlize Theron is brilliant in this film with her portrayal of "serial killer" Aileen Wuornos. Theron not only manages to completely change her looks but her entire persona, she becomes Wuornos, capturing all of the mannerisms and deep bedded anger that Wuornos exhibited during her trial. Theron's acting is fantastic and through her performance many questions are raised, some that will stay with you for awhile.

Christina Ricci should not be ignored in her performance in this film either. She captures naïve innocence in her role as Wuornos's girlfriend. Ricci's emotions are raw and she holds her own against Theron's brilliance.

But this film is really more than just the acting; it is a statement about right and wrong and about the justice of our death penalty. I don't think anyone can walk away from this film and not feel that Wuornos might have deserved a different sentence. While I agree she was wrong to kill her victims I have to wonder what any normal woman might do under her circumstances. Rape is almost as brutal as death despite the lack of permanence. After seeing the life Wuornos had to live I became wracked with compassion for a woman with no place to turn. Was she right to kill? No! But at what point is a person a cold blooded murderer and at what point is she crushed by her circumstances. At some point blame needs to rest with the child abusers, rapists and sexual predators that helped to create Wuornos and others likely to come in her wake. This film will really cause you to reflect on where you stand on issues like this.

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