Monster

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

This is harsh and acid stuff, but it's exhilarating on a number of counts. For one thing, Jenkins moves with real authority between scenes of low life, tender intimacy and gripping violence; made on the cheap, her film has the iron certainty of the best art.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

It is Theron who transmutes and sustains this journey through the lower depths.

The New Yorker David Denby

If the notoriously squeamish and slumberous members of the Academy can pull themselves together and face Monster, they should know whom to vote for as the best actress of the year. [26 January 2004, p. 84]

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

This is a powerhouse of a film, but not for the obvious reasons that it's about a female serial killer, scampering lesbians and whatever. The project's strength instead emerges from a sense of nobility and purpose in honoring its characters.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Theron has rendered herself 100 percent unrecognizable. Not since Robert De Niro morphed into hulk dimensions to play heavyweight boxer Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull" has there been a transformation this powerful and effective.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Theron has rendered herself 100 percent unrecognizable. Not since Robert De Niro morphed into hulk dimensions to play heavyweight boxer Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull" has there been a transformation this powerful and effective.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Monster is a compassionate picture without any obvious agenda. And it's effective precisely because it's not a polemic.

Film Threat Mark Sells

A film that you can appreciate, but it’s also one that may be difficult to watch. Because it is so course, because it is so authentic, and because the characters are so real, you feel a closeness to Lee that may be uncomfortable.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Doesn’t provide any answers, and that’s both its strength and weakness.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A compelling, thought-provoking, and unsettling drama.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Theron breaks through with a ferocious performance--a real career-changer.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

An okay movie made nearly great by one great thing: the bravura, mercilessly watchable performance of Charlize Theron.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

In her feature-film debut, writer-director Patty Jenkins combines the gritty, claustrophobic neo-realism of "Dahmer" with the unlikely gutter romanticism of "Boys Don't Cry," creating a haunting portrait of how a person can feel so desperate and hopeless that murdering for a few crumpled bills and maybe a beat-up car can begin to seem like a reasonable option.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Jenkins' film ranks as one of the past year's very best. Like "In Cold Blood," "The Onion Field" and "Dead Man Walking" before it, her picture provides a mesmerizing portrait of the human side of evil.

Empire Anna Smith

There’s enough dark humour to entertain.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

If you can endure watching it, you won't forget this grim cautionary tale for a long time.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

I don't think it's a great movie -- though Theron's is a near-great performance -- but it's not one you can easily forget.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Monster brings the horror stories of everyday life down to a recognizable level -- even as the actress inhabiting that story remains startlingly unrecognizable.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's the kind of stunt that gets Oscar nominations and accolades. Theron turns it into a raw, bristling performance that deserves them.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A gruesome, helpless spiral barely saved by an actress locating humanity where few would have cared to bother.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Writer-director Patty Jenkins makes an impressive debut, showing savvy that often eludes old pros.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

There's Theron, like a force of nature, compelling us to go beyond TV-movie supposition and look Wuornos straight in the eye. Her raw and riveting performance makes Monster an experience you won't forget.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Theron's transformation in Monster goes far beyond mere appearance. As Wuornos, the actress gets to display a blunt, graceless physicality that is rarely needed in women's roles, which are traditionally internal.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

As angry, deluded, vulnerable and confused as Aileen is, the character remains an enigma. Apart from serving as an opportunity for Theron's emotionally deep-dredging performance, the movie doesn't know why it exists.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

In Monster Theron undergoes one of the most startling transformations in the history of movies.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Any which way you describe this uncompromising movie, it will never sound palatable. Still, it features one of the most spectacular physical transformations by an actress hungry for a meaty role. I haven't used the term "tour de force" in all of 2003, but now it is time.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Jenkins doesn't stint on the sickening reality of Wuornos' abhorrent behavior -- it's Theron's complex, deeply felt depiction of a thoroughly messed-up soul that forces us to look beyond the monstrous nature of her acts.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Theron is nearly unrecognizable in the role. She's also astonishingly good. Obscuring the movie star has liberated the actress.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A seasoned director might have known when to ask Ms. Theron to do less, or nothing at all; as things stand, she acts at every single moment. But what brave and ferocious acting she does.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The movie's biggest disappointment is the vague, unfocused performance of Ms. Ricci, an actress known for taking risky, unsympathetic roles. Here she seems somewhat intimidated by her character.

Variety David Rooney

Gritty and compelling as Monster is, the script's not entirely satisfying elaboration of the central relationship and Ricci's somewhat ungiving performance limit the material to that of a superior telemovie rather than something emotionally richer, like "Boys Don't Cry."

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

This gifted actress (Charlize Theron), who hasn't always chosen her roles well, treats this as her big chance to show what she can do, and she's convincing enough that you're not constantly looking for a Hollywood star of more than average pulchritude under all the cosmetic baggage.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Honest curiosity and observation are what make this work, and in this respect Christina Ricci (as Wuornos's lover, Selby Wall) is almost as good as Theron.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Proves more irksome than moving.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Ricci's less flashy characterization of the immature Selby is equally skilled and meshes seamlessly with Theron's uncompromising performance.

Slate David Edelstein

Apart from Theron and Christina Ricci as her lover, there's nothing in Monster that rises above the level of doggedly well-meaning, although the film is worth seeing for the acting and as a sort of palate-teaser for Broomfield and Churchill's documentary.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

Theron's empathetic victim-wrath and elemental female outrage almost trump the otherwise cartoonish gender-bending and award-grubbing po' folk put-on.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Falls victim to flimsy characters and a love story that strains reality.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Phony choppers and a startling resemblance to Jon Voight aren't enough to transform Theron into Wuornos, and I didn't buy either the performance or the character for a second.