This is not really a serial killer movie.

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2004)

Although it's about a serial killer, "Monster" isn't devoted to Aileen Wuornos' killings; it's more about the relationship between her and her sheltered-at-first girlfriend Selby. In other words, this is more about a woman who becomes a killer than a killer, full stop.
Characterization notwithstanding, Patty Jenkins' movie won't be mistaken for a propaganda piece; it doesn't try and make her an understandable killer (except in the first case), but simply lets us make up our own minds about her. As laid out through Jenkins' script and acted by Charlize Theron, she's hard to take as a human being; foul-mouthed, desperate, hard to control, but also sad and thoughtful - compare her on-screen behaviour to her more measured and introspective voice-over narration, showing the woman inside that no one other than Selby gets close to seeing on screen.
In fact, "Monster" is more or less a two-hander; everyone in the movie other than Theron and a cast-against-type Christina Ricci as Selby is almost a cameo, particularly Pruitt Taylor Vince as one of Aileen's customers. Apparently a lot of people only noticed Charlize Theron's ability to act because of this movie; some of us came to that conclusion a while back (back in 1997, in fact, when she almost singlehandedly redeemed "The Devil's Advocate"). She may be buried under makeup effects, but it's her doing the emoting, not the looks - this is not the Charlize Theron from "Mighty Joe Young" or "Reindeer Games" (although like the latter, "Monster" takes advantage of her being one of today's most nudity-friendly performers). Both she and Ricci deliver powerful performances which carry the movie, though its point of view helps; it's grimy for sure, and generally depressing from the opening - setting up her life as a prostitute from when she was a teenager - but no one should go into this expecting a cheerful two hours.
"Monster" isn't really exploitative (even the love scene between the two leads isn't that graphic), and it's a good watch all round... but in the end, somehow you can't really feel as much for the MOVIE as for its lead characters. It's still worth seeing, however, and it's an eye-opener both for non-Theron fans and for those who want some kind of idea as to what makes a person do the things they do - both in the case of Aileen and in the case of Selby.