Mostly powerful, but hardly a classic

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2004)

Dark true story about prostitute Aileen (Charlize Theron), who in hope for a better life starts going out with young girl Selby (Christina Ricci) and killing/robbing her clients. While we first feel for her (her first 'victim' would have killed her if he had the chance), in the end she loses control completely. The scene where she shoots a guy that is really trying to help her is so hard to take... one of the most powerful and disturbing scenes I've seen in a while.
Powerful probably *is* where the movie's aiming at and it gets the job done. The movie is dark and gives you an idea of how things work at the bottom of society... not a pretty sight for sure. Sometimes it's hard to understand the decisions the characters make, but most of the time you keep on feeling for the Aileen character, how monstrous she might act at times.
One last thing: it seems 'Monster' is all about Charlize Theron, getting ugly and winning an Academy Award for it. But the true star is the amazing Christina Ricci, who is playing the Selby character so well, *she* should have won something for it, but didn't. Let's hope we keep on hearing from her.
Final score: 7/10.