One of the hardest things to do is made a typically unsympathetic character sympathetic. Monster deals with a famous serial killer from the early 1990's who believed she was killing for good reasons. Finding a way to write a direct such a character so that the audience doesn't automatically despise your lead is a difficult thing to do. Patty Jenkins and Charlize Theron found a way to do just that with Aileen Wuornos. The story deals with Aileen, who has had a rough life to say the least. She's been a prostitute since an early teen, physically abused by her family, and has been homeless for years ever since being kicked out of her home. Just by hearing that, there's at least some sense of pity I feel for her. This all leads to her meeting Selby Wall (based on Tyria Moore). The film portrays both of them at a rough patch in their life, which makes it all the more timely that they meet each other. After a relatively sweet romance for the first 40 minutes of the film, Aileen begins her crime spree. We may never know exactly how it all went down, but if she originally killed first victim because he was raping her and likely going to murder her, then I can feel a lot of sympathy towards her. As I said, Jenkins makes a choice to present Aileen as a victim herself, but that changes about halfway through. But I really appreciate the balance Jenkins gives to the crimes. They aren't faceless crimes without purpose, she's doing them for love and because her life is close to worthless without the money she's getting. By no means does that dismiss her from having any guilt, as no one should be murdered, but you can begin to understand her mindset just a little bit. It doesn't hurt that you have a great actress like Charlize Theron to build your film around, as she earned an Oscar for her turn as Aileen. It was well deserved I may add. Overall, Monster is a fascinating movie to get inside of a murderous psychopath, but it's more the moments of humanity in Aileen that stand out the most.7.4/10

Depressing, dark and dismal, Monster is the true story of Aileen, a prostitute turned serial killer.Charlize Theron is both stunning and disgusting as Aileen, such a beautiful actress in her other films, and in real life, however in Monster she's absolutely hideous as Aileen, the make up guys must have put a shift in to make her look this ugly. Fed up of hooking every night on the edge of the freeway, Aileen aims to turn her life around and soon meets the meek little girl, Selby, gradually the couple fall deeper in love, and both have to accept that there is indeed some lesbian in each of them, evidenced by the scenes depicting them kissing and fooling around, also they share a bed, and it is implied that they have also had sex. During this early period, Aileen attempts to secure herself a steady job , going to several interviews, but sadly, the lack of experience, and her previous life choices let her down each time and eventually she accepts that she is unemployable as a result. But the couple need money, so Aileen has no choice but to go back to the one thing she's always been good at, hooking. One night while at work, a man stops, picks her up, obviously wanting her services, but the man is brutal and vicious, beating poor Aileen to within an inch of her life, out of sheer desperation Aileen struggles free and kills the man in cold blood. A fatal mistake, and was this the end? Oh no, it was just the beginning! A light bulb went on in Aileen's head, from then on, instead of simply hooking, she would instead flag these nasty men down, take them somewhere secluded and kill them, then steal all their money, hey, it's far more profitable, plus she gets to kill nasty, violent men, what's not to like?One day she took it one step too far, by killing a cop, this proved to be Aileen's downfall and eventually she was caught, arrested and sentenced to death in court. Personally I enjoyed Monster it was just very difficult to watch, I was drawn in and became quite sympathetic to Aileen, but my heart went out to Selby even more so, a simple, frightened girl who is pretty much brainwashed into being Aileen's sidekick and partner, should've stayed at home Selby, carved out a better, legal life for yourself, and I continued saying this every time the character was on the screen.Charlize Theron won the academy award for best actress for Monster, a rightful choice, she was absolutely superb as Aileen, just as I said earlier, unattractive and rather disgusting. She was the first female serial killer in America, and her story is well told, my only snag is the runtime and the fact it could have broke the 2 hour mark rather than being a little over an hour and 40 minutes.

Patty Jenkins' feature film debut is a thoroughly gripping & unexpectedly heartbreaking biopic that details the troubled life of notorious serial killer Aileen Wuornos in a way that surprisingly evokes a little sympathy for a despicable persona, and benefits greatly from Charlize Theron's jaw-dropping transformation & Academy Award-winning performance.Set in Florida, Monster tells the story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute-turned-serial killer who was convicted & executed for her crimes during the late 1980s. The plot mainly covers the relationship she develops with a young woman after moving to Florida, and attempts to shed some light on the events that led her to a path there was no coming back from.Written & directed by Patty Jenkins, Monster is an impressive start to her filmmaking career and remains one of the strongest directorial debuts of 21st century. Jenkins approaches the real-life account with an open viewpoint and portrays Aileen's life as a tragic one without undermining the unforgivable acts she committed. Also, her relationship with her girlfriend is sincerely illustrated.The best thing about Monster, however, is Charlize Theron who single-handedly makes this film work with a performance that's as compelling as it is chilling. Undergoing a physical transformation so profound & disturbing that she's almost unrecognisable in the role, Theron plays Aileen from inside out, and keeps a firm grip on her emotions & expressions at all times. Christina Ricci is in as her girlfriend and does well with what she's given.On an overall scale, Monster is a skilfully crafted, grippingly told & outstandingly performed biopic that is able to infuse shades of grey into what appears black & white from afar, and will always be memorable for Charlize Theron's career-best performance. Making the viewers feel sympathy for an unlikeable character is never an easy job but thanks to Patty Jenkins' refined script & first-rate direction, and Theron's total devotion to her role, Monster accomplishes that with effortless ease. Highly recommended.

The thing is Aileen underestimated herself by just dreaming and not working for her goals she just waited for people to discover her for nothing , this story is really inspiring if you understand it . she didn't know that life is harsh and it will hit her so bad and like that guy said: when the beach party is over you don't get to say you know what ! now i'd like to have what everybody worked their entire life for , it doesn't work that way . so don't quit and never give up but you have to work hard for your dream by taking the right path otherwise you'll end up like Alieen , this movie is powerful and full of lessons , Charlize Theron performance was really fantastic might be her best movie .