Who Needs A Radioactive Brontosaurus?

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 2011)

Despite its title, 2003's "Monster" is a shocking picture with no zombies, no aliens and no slime creatures, vampires, sentient blobs, dinosaurs, werewolves or mutants. Rather, it is a film dealing with a much more human kind of monster, specifically Aileen Wuornos, the Michigan-born prostitute turned serial killer who was convicted in Florida in 1992 for the murders of six men (she was never prosecuted for the murder of a seventh, whose body was never found), served over a decade on Death Row, and was ultimately put to death by lethal injection in 2002. The film, masterfully written and directed by Patty Jenkins, only glancingly mentions Aileen's sexual molestations as a child, her prostitution at age 12 and her pregnancy at age 14, and never mentions the criminal career (charges for DUI, disorderly conduct, armed robbery, grand theft auto, resisting arrest, jail time, etc.) she indulged in before the events depicted. In the film, we first encounter a suicidal Aileen in 1989, right before she meets the fictitious Selby Wall, a character based on real-life bar maid Tyria Moore. As happened in actuality, the two meet in a gay bar, their initially platonic relationship soon turning physical, and Aileen begins hooking with a vengeance--and killing with a vengeance, too--to support her young girl "in style." "You'll never meet someone like me again," Aileen tells Selby as they run away together; a good thing for Selby, too, as things turn out!
Anyway, at this point, going on a full decade after "Monster"'s release, you surely don't need ME to tell you how brilliant South African actress Charlize Theron is in the lead role--the Oscar, Golden Globe, SAG award and more than a dozen other honors that she deservedly garnered for her work here should tell you something about her courageous performance. I will say, however, that she really does completely immerse herself in the character, and that the 30 pounds she reportedly gained for the role, plus some remarkable makeup work and those ghastly prosthetic teeth, make her look uncannily like the real deal. Christina Ricci (currently flying high on TV's "Pan Am") as Selby, one of her early adult roles, is also excellent; the two make for one unlikely yet touching pair, and the desperate love that Aileen feels for this young waif allows us to actually sympathize with her, despite her murderous acts. As to those murders, we see four of the seven, and the initial one almost seems justified on Aileen's part; a clear case of self-defense. Her later homicides are far less defensible, however; indeed, the final two shown are quite horrific, fully validating the film's title. Jenkins wisely chose to shoot her film on the actual locations where events occurred, lending her film a seedy verisimilitude, and the young director does a terrific job; one can only wonder how she will fare on the upcoming "Thor 2"! Her script, as I mentioned, excises the earlier segment of Aileen's life and concentrates on the touching relationship between the two gals, turning the film, almost, into a tragic love story; why Tyria Moore was turned into the fictional Selby is anybody's guess. Legal reasons, perhaps? Regardless, Jenkins' script allows us to peek into this notorious killer's mind, and manages to make the monster altogether human, recognizable and (hard to believe) almost admirable. I would be remiss if I did not mention the terrific, original musical score by the composer only known as BT (middle name Larry, I wonder?); it greatly complements the sometimes sweet, oftentimes appalling events on screen, and makes inspired use of the 1968 Tommy James and the Shondells hit "Crimson and Clover." All told, "Monster" is a truly accomplished, ultimately saddening piece of work. Indeed, who needs to be shocked by a giant crab monster or radioactive brontosaurus when we have the spectre and the memory of Aileen Wuornos?