Based on the true story of America's first true female serial killer.
Description
Monster is based on the true story of America's first real female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos. Charlize Theron (Cider House Rules, The Italian Job) stars as Wuornos, Christina Ricci (The Addams Family, Sleepy Hollow) stars as Wuornos' lover, Selby. The life of Aileen Wuornos was a troubled one, with supposed abuse from her father, and then the death of her parents "forces" her to a life of prostitution to pay the bills. Wuornos' life is basically a wreck until she finds love unexpectedly as she stumbles into a predominantly homosexual bar. She meets a young girl named Selby, who tries quite hard to befriend Aileen, and after a few drinks, succeeds. Selby is an innocent young girl that is from a very religious upbringing, so she keeps her lifestyle quiet.
Aileen and Selby quickly fall for each other and Aileen promises to take Selby in and support the both of them...by prostituting herself. Aileen's plan works well, bringing in plenty of cash, until she tries to "service" a client with some problems of his own, and Aileen ends up raped and half-dead. So, Aileen goes beyond defending herself and shoots the man numerous times, killing him. Thus the rampage of Aileen Wuornos begins.
Monster stays true to the story of Wuornos, for the most part. My big gripe with the movie is that the story just doesn't move. Most of the movie is just Aileen "servicing" & killing men. That's just not good cinema, in my opinion. Theron does deliver a good performance, but certainly not worthy of an Oscar. Although, I could definitely say that Ricci should have won Best Supporting Actress, her performance in Monster was the best of her career.
Monster turns out to be a very sad story. You almost feel sorry for Aileen in the end. If you watch the film, you'll know exactly what I mean. She just seems like she got a few tough breaks and just couldn't cope with them.
Monster is a fine piece of work in itself, it just didn't live up to my expectations, and in some ways it surpassed them. I would definitely recommend Monster, but remember that it is rated "R" for very good reasons.
