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This was suppose to be the film I was not going to see.
I have heard nothing but positive feelings towards this film
and I have had several opportunities to go and watch it, but I
had made my mind up early on that I was going to wait until
video to see this one. Alas, I couldn't wait that long
and decided that I would finally see what all of the fuss was
about. I mean, Roger Ebert names "Monster's
Ball" his number one film of the year, and Halle Berry
was nominated for a Golden Globe award. Director Marc
Forster had to be doing something right, eh?
"Monster's
Ball" is a sad and depressing film, but nevertheless
powerful and touching in an unusual way. Billy Bob
Thornton stars as Hank, a prison guard who, early on in the
film, escorts a death row inmate (Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs) to his final hoorah. Later on, believe it or not,
Thornton falls for the dead man's wife, Leticia, played
miraculously by the beautiful Halle Berry. The two
develop a relationship even though Thornton is a stern racist
and comes from a long line of racists. Peter Boyle turns
in an Oscar worthy performance as Thornton's racist father, a
man blinded by his own hatred and unwilling to change.
It is plain to see why Thornton's character turned out the way
he did.
This film deals with three generations of racism and the most
interesting scenes to watch involve the ordinary conversation
between Berry and Thornton, as he tries to suppress his
thoughts of white power. Heath Ledger also pops up in
this film as Sonny, another prison guard.
Now, though "Monster's Ball" is a good film, there
were some things I found a little off about the picture.
The film did an acceptable job in portraying the racism, but
it could have been much more powerful in that department.
I wanted to see more with the Peter Boyle character and maybe
find out why he turned out the way he did. I hate it
when a film introduces me to such an interesting and complex
character, only to completely ignore his motivations and
emotions. And, I have to subtract points from any
director that chooses to cast P. Diddy in a very important
role--without his character, Berry and Thornton don't meet.
Marc
Forster is a talented director and I have no doubt that he
could be directing more mainstream pictures, but he seems in
his element with this film. This film reminded me of
"Grand Canyon" and "Magnolia" in the way
that it deals with loneliness and need, desperate characters
just looking for something to hold on to. The ending to
this film is perfect and I couldn't picture it any other way,
but I was just disappointed that there wasn't more to watch.
I know this is probably not a good reason to not give this
film a higher review, but I guess I thought more territory
could have been explored. Four stars or not, this is
definitely a film to check out.
-- Billy
Ray
( 3 out of 4 pops )
Talk
about this film with other Popkorn Junkies |
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Other Junkie's
opinions.....
Mike ( 4 out of 4
pops )
"Monster's Ball" is a fascinating and powerful film about how
emotional needs can bring two people together, regardless of their
background, beliefs or race. The film moves at a most deliberate
pace but that allows the audience to get to know these characters and
why they say and do the things that they do. Billy Bob Thornton
and Halle Berry give powerful but more important real performances.
Their characters both go thru a change brought on by horrific events and
I believe the Thornton character is trying to evolve himself to be more
like his son instead of like his racist father which he has been like
for his whole life. The movie is sad but at the same time touching
and uplifting as you see these two people try to change their sad lives.
I enjoyed watching every second of this film.
James ( 3 out of 4
pops )
I went to this movie not knowing anything about it, except that it
starred Billy Bob Thorton and Halle Barry. I was very pleasantly
surprised to learn during the opening credits that it also starred Heath
Ledger and Peter Boyle. This movie is depressing, but it ends on an
uplifting note, and has the nice theme that everybody can start over and
have a second chance to have a nice life. It's also somewhere that only
Ron Jeremy knows, somewhere between soft porn and hard porn. I mean, do
I really want to see Billy Bob's ass? Or Heath Ledger's ass? The only
ass I wanna see is Peter Boyle's! No, wait...Well, at least I get to see
Halle Barry's tits. Ah, the smell of sarcasm in the morning...
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