A Tour De Force Performance in a Mesmerizing Character Study

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2004)

It is not just Charlize Theron's deNiro in "Raging Bull"-like transformation that makes "Monster" so mesmerizing, but her total performance.

Not since Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry" has an actress so completely inhabited such an unlikely role, completely overshadowing Nicole's nose, accent, and voice register change in "The Hours."
But how on earth did writer/director Patty Jenkins know that Theron could do this? There is zero else in her previous resume by any stretch of the imagination to think that her previous fluff prepared her for this. I understand Theron coming on as producer to convince everyone else and I assume it was her connections that got a first-time director noted character actors for bit male roles by Bruce Dern, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Lee Tergesen showing what he learned in "Oz."
This is not just a tour de force performance but is within a brilliant examination of a truly disturbed yet desperately love-tropic person. We gradually get inside her traumatized head as she ceases to be able to distinguish between victim and predator due to early and continuing abuse that renders her barely even able to function in the demi-monde let alone mainstream society. The attention stays on the character study and barely shows the violence and gore, but rather the impact of its aftermath.

There has been less attention to Christina Ricci's excellent supporting role as her very confused and dependent companion only because she has a history of doing odd-ball indie films alternating with her mainstream Hollywood work.
The score by electronic dance music's BT is excellent, as are the incisive selections of period power pop.