Monster's Ball (2001)
Determined to push every viewer’s buttons, Monster’s Ball has any number of upsetting subject matters. Do you have a soft spot for children? Have an issue with the death penalty? Does racial language made you cringe? Do you look away when presented with graphic sex scenes? The message of the movie seems to be, “Let’s see how many audience members we can make so uncomfortable they wish they never watched it in the first place.”
I’m kidding, of course. The message was supposed to be about the healing power of love and connection from the most unlikely source when you’re at rock bottom. Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry have both suffered tragic, unexpected losses, and by a chance meeting, their lives entwine. (I usually hate spoilers and never give them, but since I wish the spoilers had been revealed to me, an exception follows: Billy Bob’s son Heath Ledger commits suicide in the middle of an argument, and Halle’s son Coronji Calhoun dies from a car injury.) Since they’ll both never be the same again and are barely functioning, a fragment of kindness might be enough to give them a second chance at life.
As everyone knows, because it was the only part of the movie heavily publicized, there’s a graphic sex scene between the two leads. I might be the only one who felt this way, but to me, it demonstrated the main problem of the movie: the leads were too attractive. If this was really supposed to be a movie about lost people who only come together because they’re utterly destroyed, physical attraction shouldn’t have been an ingredient. The leads should not have looked as if either would be a prime pick-up at a bar on Saturday night. If inner beauty was the theme of the movie, Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry were the wrong cast.
Perhaps the real message was, “Let’s get Halle Berry an Oscar.” I’ll absolutely give her credit where it’s due: this role was not her usual fare at that point in her career, and she had a couple of scenes that showed raw pain. But I’m willing to bet the mortgage on my house that if the two extremely graphic sex scenes had been cut from the movie, she wouldn’t have won her statuette. It’s terribly sad that she had to degrade herself in that way to win an Oscar. I’m also willing to bet my bank account that had a different woman been cast, one who didn’t look incredible with her clothes off, she wouldn’t have won the award. This is also very sad.
With such an immediately compelling story, Monster’s Ball has a surprisingly weak script. There are far too many loose ends dangled as temptation but never explained, from the large (any information at all about Heath Ledger’s mother, Sean Combs’s crime, and the relationship between Halle Berry and her husband) to the small (Billy Bob Thornton’s reason for ordering ice cream at a diner, his need for a plastic spoon, his ready supply of money at convenient times, or why Halle would assume he would want to have sex with her when she doesn’t even know if he’s married). There are several scenes that felt ad-lib, with the actors saying a particular phrase over and over again, as if given a prompt just before the camera rolled. I’m convinced if Billy Bob Thornton had a hand in the screenplay and the direction, it would have been an infinitely better movie. After you’ve seen A Family Thing (written by), Sling Blade (written and directed by), and Daddy and Them (written and directed by), this movie can’t help but be a disappointment.
I can always appreciate good acting, and I don’t normally shrink away from a heavy, dramatic story, but I wish I’d never rented it. There were too many upsetting scenes. Sean Combs’s execution is shown in full, from his last meal to his last breath. Both leads are physically and emotionally abusive to their children; during the second scene I had to turn the movie off and go outside for a minute. Watch at your own risk.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to nudity, graphic sex scenes, racial language, upsetting violence and upsetting scenes involving a child, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Heath Ledger movies here!
I’m kidding, of course. The message was supposed to be about the healing power of love and connection from the most unlikely source when you’re at rock bottom. Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry have both suffered tragic, unexpected losses, and by a chance meeting, their lives entwine. (I usually hate spoilers and never give them, but since I wish the spoilers had been revealed to me, an exception follows: Billy Bob’s son Heath Ledger commits suicide in the middle of an argument, and Halle’s son Coronji Calhoun dies from a car injury.) Since they’ll both never be the same again and are barely functioning, a fragment of kindness might be enough to give them a second chance at life.
As everyone knows, because it was the only part of the movie heavily publicized, there’s a graphic sex scene between the two leads. I might be the only one who felt this way, but to me, it demonstrated the main problem of the movie: the leads were too attractive. If this was really supposed to be a movie about lost people who only come together because they’re utterly destroyed, physical attraction shouldn’t have been an ingredient. The leads should not have looked as if either would be a prime pick-up at a bar on Saturday night. If inner beauty was the theme of the movie, Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry were the wrong cast.
Perhaps the real message was, “Let’s get Halle Berry an Oscar.” I’ll absolutely give her credit where it’s due: this role was not her usual fare at that point in her career, and she had a couple of scenes that showed raw pain. But I’m willing to bet the mortgage on my house that if the two extremely graphic sex scenes had been cut from the movie, she wouldn’t have won her statuette. It’s terribly sad that she had to degrade herself in that way to win an Oscar. I’m also willing to bet my bank account that had a different woman been cast, one who didn’t look incredible with her clothes off, she wouldn’t have won the award. This is also very sad.
With such an immediately compelling story, Monster’s Ball has a surprisingly weak script. There are far too many loose ends dangled as temptation but never explained, from the large (any information at all about Heath Ledger’s mother, Sean Combs’s crime, and the relationship between Halle Berry and her husband) to the small (Billy Bob Thornton’s reason for ordering ice cream at a diner, his need for a plastic spoon, his ready supply of money at convenient times, or why Halle would assume he would want to have sex with her when she doesn’t even know if he’s married). There are several scenes that felt ad-lib, with the actors saying a particular phrase over and over again, as if given a prompt just before the camera rolled. I’m convinced if Billy Bob Thornton had a hand in the screenplay and the direction, it would have been an infinitely better movie. After you’ve seen A Family Thing (written by), Sling Blade (written and directed by), and Daddy and Them (written and directed by), this movie can’t help but be a disappointment.
I can always appreciate good acting, and I don’t normally shrink away from a heavy, dramatic story, but I wish I’d never rented it. There were too many upsetting scenes. Sean Combs’s execution is shown in full, from his last meal to his last breath. Both leads are physically and emotionally abusive to their children; during the second scene I had to turn the movie off and go outside for a minute. Watch at your own risk.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to nudity, graphic sex scenes, racial language, upsetting violence and upsetting scenes involving a child, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Heath Ledger movies here!