Quite incredible performances

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 2004)

Monster is another true story about despair and hopelessness, leading to inevitability. What it also encompasses is a love story in among the tragedy and it does surprisingly well to make the combination of love and destruction compatible, almost conjoined.
Charlize Theron is simply not recognisable (Bar the voice) as Aileen, a prostitute who lost control of herself a long time ago. Condemned to a life of failure on every front, she essentially possesses no dignity and is barely even at the level of trailer trash. This makes Selby's initial fascination with her somewhat unbelievable, but they do say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Selby is played by Cristina Ricci, and having been brought up in a strictly catholic household she got disowned when a girl accused her of attempting to kiss her. Dispelled into an alien home, she is aching to rebel, but doesn't know how. Cue Aileen who is her polar opposite and a mutual fixation builds up of each other after a chance meeting in a bar. The problem is neither has money or prospects, so fake promises and empty optimism that things will get better are all they have to hold onto, and when Aileen's aggressive nature gets the better of her and she murders a client who tries to rape her, she seems to get a thirst for it - the murder of these scumbag rapists seems justifiable to her.
It goes without saying that Charlize Theron defies belief here - she is 1000% convincing as Aileen, and the makeup is also top notch. If her voice had been in any way altered, you would *not* know it was her. Not only is her acting superb, but her bodily mannerisms are so convincing too - she seems to be a different person entirely.
However, it must be added that Ricci too is outstanding as the naive then foolhardy Selby. Her transformation from submissive to aggressive is completely believable.
In saying all this, the performances can be top notch but if the story ain't that hot then the movie isn't fufilling all that it can. Here, it can't be denied the story is pretty well told. The narrative is kept moving at a good pace, and ultimately we get fairly suckered into the world portrayed.
There are better movies out there but not an awful lot of better performances - this is worth your time for them alone.