Monster

I’m not sure who it was who saw a photo of Aileen Wuornos and thought the inhumanly beautiful Charlize Theron would be the best choice to play her but that decision ended up working really well.

Monster is based on the true story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Aileen is a prostitute when the film begins. She meets Selby (Christina Ricci) at a gay bar and the two eventually become lovers. Eager to provide for Selby and following an incident in which she killed a man in self-defense, Aileen stops her career as a prostitute. However, without skills or previous work experience, she is unable to find legal work. As such, she again goes to the streets, this time to rob and kill those men who pick her up.

There isn’t much that I can say about Monster that isn’t about Charlize Theron. There have been a lot of comments about how she won her Oscar for basically not being hot. But that’s really reductive to the performance she gives. Charlize Theron really disappears into this role and gives a really complex, nuanced performance as Aileen Wuornos.

Monster is a troubling, difficult movie that paints a portrait of one of the only female serial killers. It is sympathetic of her circumstances without being apologetic for her actions (killing people is bad, you guys). Anchored by Charlie Theron’s brilliant, sympathetic and transformative performance, Monster is not a one-note murder-happy serial killer movie. Instead, it is a film one that explores all of the possible reasons that lead to such horrible violence and paints a very complex picture of the woman herself.

Overall rating: 7.9/10

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