Friday, January 16, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MOVIE REVIEW: 'Monster'

Creating a 'Monster': Charlize Theron's turn as serial killer Aileen Wuornos expertly conveys character's psychological pain

With the world closing in around them, Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), left, prepares to bid farewell to Florida -- and her lover Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron). Thomas (Bruce Dern) is one of the few characters in Aileen's life to see the ghosts tormenting her.

Aileen Wuornos always longed to be in the movies.

By now, she's gotten her wish several times over.

But, as "Monster" so powerfully demonstrates, it's hardly been a dream come true.

Wuornos, who was executed in 2002 after a dozen years on Florida's Death Row, first hit movie screens in Nick Broomfeld's 1992 documentary "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer." Broomfield's follow-up, "Aileen Wuornos: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer," recently opened in New York.

But it's unlikely that Broomfield's latest documentary will generate the psychological jolts writer-director Patty Jenkins' fictionalized portrait delivers, thanks primarily to Charlize Theron's powerhouse title-role portrayal.

Although "Monster" qualifies as a textbook Oscar-bait transformation -- glamorous, gorgeous actress uglies up to spotlight her unexpectedly potent acting chops -- it's too cynical to view the movie in that light alone.

That's because Theron's performance goes far beyond physical transformation.

Yes, she brings a fierce physicality to the walking time-bomb role of Wuornos, the product of a bleak, abusive childhood who grew up to become a Florida truck-stop hooker -- and a serial killer.

More crucially, Theron conveys the damaged-goods psychological pain behind Wuornos' shattered life -- and her desperate, if futile, attempts to overcome it.

Not enough to excuse Wuornos' murderous conduct, of course, but enough for us to understand it. Or begin to, at any rate.

"Monster" introduces Aileen by allowing her to introduce herself -- and the fantasies that provided a brief, starry-eyed respite from a brutally painful childhood.

Those little-girl dreams provide a rueful contrast to Aileen's bitter reality, which has her down to her last $5, contemplating suicide on one of the rain-soaked Florida highways where she plies her perfunctory trade.

Rather than pulling the trigger of the gun she carries in her bag, however, Wuornos seeks refuge in a nearby dive.

It turns out to be a gay bar. And one of its patrons turns out to be Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), who's been dispatched to Florida for "rehabilitation" by her religious fundamentalist father.

Aileen initially brushes off the painfully awkward Selby's overtures with the hardly revelatory news that she's not gay.

Yet something else draws this odd couple together -- the fact that they're lost, desperately lonely souls, flailing to find an anchor to help them weather life's stormy seas.

Inspired by Selby's affection, Aileen determines to abandon life on the edge and join the workaday world.

Alas, the workaday world has other ideas. So does Selby, who's doesn't mind that Aileen keeps plying the prostitute's trade -- as long as she brings home enough money to pay for Selby's newly independent life.

No matter how many times Aileen tries to pull off the road to hell she's traveled all her life, something gets in her way. Sometimes it's her naive assumption that her good intentions will provide a no-questions-asked admission ticket to another existence. Sometimes it's the hostile, hateful men she picks up to turn a quick trick and a quick buck. And sometimes it's demons from her past -- demons that are always with her, always reminding her of the monster she's become and will always be, no matter how hard she tries to escape.

In a striking feature debut, Jenkins relates this tale with offhand assurance. By centering "Monster" on Wuornos' doomed romance -- and the wistful fantasies that feed it -- Jenkins humanizes the title character. Without excusing Wuornos' monstrous actions, the movie helps us understand how and why they occur, and their tragic consequences, not only for the victims but for Wuornos as well.

Jenkins also displays an economical, cut-to-the-chase directorial style, capturing the essence of a situation in spare yet revealing fashion. This technique brings to life a gallery of vivid supporting characters, from Selby's straight-arrow protector (Annie Corley, adding a welcome note of satire to her do-gooder character) to Thomas (the too-seldom-seen, always perceptive Bruce Dern), a battered Vietnam veteran who's one of the few characters in Aileen's life to see the ghosts tormenting her. And the presence of Scott Wilson as one of Aileen's victims seems particularly ironic -- especially for those of us who remember him as one of the murderous drifters in 1967's "In Cold Blood." (Robert Blake, now accused of murder himself, played Wilson's partner in crime.)

But it's "Monster's" central relationship that gives the movie its haunting, harrowing impact.

Ricci -- who bears absolutely no resemblance to her real-life counterpart, Tyria Moore -- augments Selby's vulnerable, childish demeanor with a sneaky, manipulative edge that makes her much less sympathetic, but much more human. Selby's finally found someone who's needier and more forlorn than she is -- and she's determined to take advantage of the situation as long as she can.

As for Aileen, watching Theron create, then crack Wuornos' hard-as-nails exterior to reveal the aching, battered soul inside gives "Monster" its primary reason for being.

It's an excruciating, exacting portrayal -- difficult to watch and impossible to disregard.