Monster starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci (2003)
Synopsis of the DVD Movie: Monster starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci (2003)
A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute--servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby. And during that very same time, she also began murdering any of her clientele who attempted to rape her. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers--instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer.
DVD Movie Rating for: Monster
Rated 4 out of 5 stars, extraordinary performance of Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos, for which Charlize Theron received the academy award "Actress playing in a leading role".
Movie Plot of: Monster
To be more accurate. It is more than the extraordinary physical transformation that makes Theron’s performance so believable; the actress reinvents herself and erases any notion of the beautiful, elegant star with whom we are familiar. In both the delivery of her dialogue and in mannerisms that suggest the character’s discomfort with her own awkwardness and appearance, Theron forces us to see only Wuornos, not someone impersonating her.
There is much tragic irony in the fact that, at the beginning of the film, Wuornos - who at this stage has committed no murders - has been so ground down by life that she intends to kill herself. Before that, however, she decides to have a drink and wanders into a gay bar where she meets 18-year-old Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), a lonely outsider trying to make contact. Although there is some initial tension between them when Wuornos thinks Selby is trying to pick her up and tells her she is not a lesbian, the two end up spending the night together. The young woman shows Wuornos more affection than she has known for a long time and gradually becomes her reason for living. Ultimately, she also becomes the principal witness who will send her to her death.
Selby, whose parents have sent her to stay with her aunt because of their inability to cope with her homosexuality, moves out to live with Wuornos who clings desperately to her newfound relationship. By now, she has already killed her first victim, a sadist who has tied, beaten and raped her and whom she has shot in self-defence with his own gun. Determined to be the breadwinner of the household, she tells Selby that she is giving up prostitution and applying for a real job, but a series of disastrous job interviews demonstrates that she has no hope of entering the work force. With no money coming in and Selby complaining about the dreary life they lead, Wuornos returns to prostitution, picking up drivers by the roadside, but her last experience has changed her and now, perhaps as some kind of retribution for the degradation she has suffered at the hands of men since childhood, she kills her customers, relegating them all to the same pigeonhole as her first brutal victim. Only one of her pick-ups (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a nervous first-timer, remains alive at the end of their encounter, but another man (Scott Wilson), who wants only to help her, is not spared. As she becomes more careless and her killing sprees begin to make headlines, her capture is inevitable.
Monster makes no judgement about Wuornos, but in its superb, fully-rounded portrait of her allows us to make our own decisions, and in Theron’s stunning performance gives us one of the high points of the movie year.
DVD Production Details of: Monster
Starring: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci
Director: Patty Jenkins
Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound
Studio: Columbia Tristar Home
DVD Release Date: June 1, 2004
DVD Features:
Theatrical trailer(s)
Featurette
Film mixing demo featurette
Interview with Patty Jenkins and BT
Widescreen anamorphic format
DVD Easter Eggs
None
Cast of the movie: Monster
- Charlize Theron .... Aileen
- Christina Ricci .... Selby
- Bruce Dern .... Thomas
- Lee Tergesen .... Vincent Corey
- Annie Corley .... Donna
- Pruitt Taylor Vince .... Gene/Stuttering "John"
- Marco St. John .... Evan/Undercover "John"
- Marc Macaulay .... Will/Daddy "John"
- Scott Wilson .... Horton/Last "John"
- Rus Blackwell .... Cop
- Tim Ware .... Chuck
- Stephan Jones .... Lawyer
- Brett Rice .... Charles
- Kaitlin Riley .... Teenage Aileen
- Cree Ivey .... 7-Year-Old Aileen
- Catherine Mangan .... Justy
- Magdalena Manville .... Bar Lap Girl
- T. Robert Pigott .... Bartender
- Romonda Shaver .... Employment Agent
- Glenn R. Wilder .... Restaurant Manager
- Elaine Stebbins .... Wife at Accident
- Kane Hodder .... Undercover Cop
- Christian Stokes .... Undercover Cop
- Lyllian Barcaski .... Bar Girl
- Nonalee Davis .... Bar Girl
- Bubba Baker .... Cubby
- Al .... Himself (at the Last Resort)
- Cannonball .... Himself
- Chad Vaccarino .... Trevor
- Gene R. Stephenson .... Judge (as Honorable Gene R. Stephenson)
- Jesse Stern .... Skate Rink Attendant
- Bill Boylan .... Police Chief
- Jim R. Coleman .... Newscaster
- Chandra Leigh .... Cute Teenage Attendant
- Lori McDonald .... Attendant
- Adam Brown .... Attendant
- Robb Chamberlain .... Prosecutor
- Ed Donovan .... State Prison Guard
Photo Gallery of the movie: Monster
Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size high quality photos, posters and wallpapers of Monster
Reviews of the movie: Monster
Critics have universally praised Charlise Theron's performance in Monster and the praise, for once, is astonishingly deserved. The gorgeous star of The Italian Job and The Cider House Rules vanishes into the character of Aileen Wuornos, a real-life serial killer and prostitute who murdered at least seven men in Florida. Monster traces her relationship with a young woman named Selby (Christina Ricci), which intertwines with Wuornos's murder spree. This remarkable movie finds compassion for Wuornos but unflinchingly faces her brutal crimes; Theron expresses this woman's horrific life history without softening her terrifying, dead-eyed stare. This is a gripping, devastating performance, a physical and psychological transformation comparable to Robert DeNiro's in Raging Bull. The movie's moral and emotional complexity wouldn't succeed without this searing performance--but succeed it does, and it will stick with you for some time afterwards
Former South African model turned former middling actress Charlize Theron was the talk of Hollywood last year due to this film, in which she plays Aileen Wuornos, the most recent woman to have been executed in the US. Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her role as the prostitute turned serial killer, and it's no surprise: Pretty women who play ugly, damaged characters do very well with the Academy - particularly when lesbianism is involved. Having said that, the performance is quite impressive, especially if you've seen any footage of the actual Wuornos. Though it sometimes feels like the Oscar buzz started hovering around the film from its inception, Monster escapes many of the problems that could so easily have plagued it. All in all, worth seeing - if you're in the mood for depressing brutality.
