adonis98-743-186503 After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard reexamines his attitudes while falling in love with the African American wife of the last prisoner he executed. I don't get the hype for Monster's Ball at all, first of all the steamy sex scene? was probably forgettable and not even that good and plus i've seen way better. The perfomances from the cast weren't even that good including Halle Berry's which she even won an Oscar and Heath Ledger's perfomance but also his own sex scene was pretty horrible too. The overall plot of the film if there was even one to begin with was also pretty bad and Berry's son? the fat kid even disappears after a while. Overall an overrated and bad drama. (0/10)

iamnotbatman-91542 The movie is basically a f**k you to all the black people out there. It basically portrays a racist white man as a noble hearted gentleman who saves a black women from the rotting life she is stuck in.I don't mind the love story but it doesn't have a basis for it to form in the world,it all just happens because the women is vulnerable and ready to fall into the racist man's arms. I truly wanted to vomit after watching this propagandist bullshit.

Rameshwar IN Reviewed July 2010Monster's ball is a conventional sad movie which has those sad moments falling in place so conveniently. So as a story, it neither has freshness nor it is smart but has easy pacing. But all these can be overlooked because of terrific performances from the lead pair especially Halle Berry (Leticia Musgrove) and watching her act left me in awe. Sadness of loss was shown in the most hard hitting way though it is a bit melodramatic. The initial part of the movie about Leticia's husband (P. Diddy) last day in prison before he gets executed is so gritty and moving. Thornton and Ledger deliver their usual best. I could not think of anything that could make the movie better, but it still stands as an example for how an ordinary movie can be elevated by brilliant performances.

krocheav On the outset this appeared to have enough potential to be OK. By the mid-section however it becomes a little obvious the filmmakers were trying to turn it into the 2001 of racial hate movies. They start with a minimalist plot then stretch out every scene till the threadbare writing begins to show. This writer/co-producer duo (Milo Addica & William Rokos) along with German director Marc Forster come across as perhaps having been victims of child abuse or worse. Ugliness seeps from the majority of scenes like puss from a festering sore. About every Character is totally unlikable (except maybe Heath Ledger playing Thornton's son with only a brief part).If anyone hasn't seen this by now, from here there could be a few plot spoilers: Billy thingy-ma-Bob Thornton is a bigoted, violent father who HATES his own son like no other before him. Thornton's father (Boyle) hates everyone except those who hate as equally as he does! A local young black woman (Hallie Berry) whose husband is on death row shows little more than contempt towards both her husband and their sad young son (her son compulsively eats chocolate bars to sooth his unhappiness with his home situation). At no time are we told why her seemingly intelligent, artistically talented negro husband has to be executed - did he murder somebody or simply upset some red-neck townsfolk?. Character establishment is treated as unimportant because the thin plot simply works towards stringing together a series of gratuitous sex scenes - and they don't get much sleazier. Lust simply replaces shared love for sake of sensationalism and this seems to have been the main selling point. Some say it's a tale of redemption but the redemption is treated as being simply 'tacked on' - occurring almost overnight and stemming from a shocking event the supposedly 'redeemed' bigot (Thornton) even more shockingly said he was pleased about!. None of this is very convincing. It would appear the average viewer of movies today may have been reduced to mulch - otherwise how could below par product like this receive more than a passing glance?. As for Berry, she 's reduced to a mere sex object - which seems to be enough for obsessed audiences to rave about. This brings us then to the also tacked on ending - looking like it was lifted strait out of "The Misfits"...the two 'redeemed' characters sit eating chocolate ice cream from a 'specifically' requested plastic spoon (plastic seems symbolic of this movie) and gaze up at the stars looking into their assured future. Disappointing and somewhat shameful. Seems also like it may have been a rather lean year - as predictably, the academy thought it just fine. For a good overview, read beyond the promo type reviews and into the general viewer analysis.