I love this movie so much

Lack of good storyline.

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I finally got around to seeing this film, and what a disappointment. The love this film received from critics and the Academy is completely unwarranted, yet its understandable on some level.Seems like films that display any sort of racial progress and highlight actors of "color" get positive reviews regardless of they quality of filmmaking. There is no better example of this than "Monster's Ball".Halle Berry's performance was fine, but there are some issues with her being cast in a role like this. She's too thin and attractive, and frankly she looks too white to be believable in such a role. Are we really supposed to believe a woman that looks like her gave birth to an obese child? So, I was conflicted as to whether BBT's character finally saw the errors of his ways and now loves black folk, or whether Halle Berry was so hot, he couldn't resist her.These are just some of the many issues with this film. In short, its another example of political correctness trumping Art.

(Originally reviewed: 17/03/2017) A picture that is elevated by the strength of its lead performances, Thornton play's it quiet so Halle Berry can take centre stage and deliver an emotional powerhouse of a performance. Despite one or two problems like the build up to a character's death that has little to no reasoning behind it that expects us to believe that 'because his father did not like him', he got depressed and shot himself; which is something that I just found rather unbelievable and another sequence where a child dies, and the hospital staff have a lack of respect during the situation; in which looked like one woman was smirking when Berry started crying; but other than these scenes; the picture does work, having plenty of assertive dialogue, looking adequate; cinematography and location wise and a last half an hour that is truly impressive. Halle Berry (Leticia) the widower of the executed killer give's perhaps her best performance to date, as an emotionally out of control woman, that's losing her house, has lost her husband and is poised to pull extra shift's at work to be able to cope with her son; and I really wanted her character to end up happy in the end, because here was a woman with a lot of personality and likability. The prison guard Hank is played by Billy Bob Thornton and despite being racist in the beginning, and mean, you see him develop into a calmer, more helpful kind of person that is giving lift's to Berry and helping out coloured neighbours, it was a revelation to see him change his ways, and a pleasure to see the story unfold. Among the supporting cast are Heath ledger, who is very good as his son (Sonny), and Peter Boyle as Hank's nasty, racist father who is barely even able to walk to the kitchen and also mean spirited right down to his core but played well by Boyle.The picture has some melodramatics, but there carefully done, and personally I found the story compelling and very interesting, there's some scenes that are rather better than other's but the screenplay from Milo Addica and Will Rokos is a triumph with an unconventional conclusion that see's two character's sitting down looking to the future, despite Berry's character knowing full well Thornton's secret, and seeing what she will do after finding out was always going to be predictable but somehow it wasn't, it was something surprising. Just like the racist tone of the film, it's not heavy, it's more minor with bursts of racism, and I for one found this serious, skilfully crafted story well worth my time; Forster's direction is impressive, there's a nice, realistic sex scene between Berry and Thornton and the performances are something special. All in all this is a very good drama that's never boring, paced adequately and has a more than satisfying conclusion.

Monster's Ball begins promisingly where we begin to witness friction between father and son prison guards Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) and Sonny (Heath Ledger). Sadly the issues between father and son are not particularly well explored - except that Dad is racist and son isn't. Then unexpectedly Hank's son shoots himself. Following her husband's execution and in an unfortunate coincidence, Leticia (Halle Berry) also finds herself dealing with the loss of her child. United in their grief, Hank and Leticia start to fall for each other.Screenwriters Milo Addica and Will Rokos are clearly plucking for a heart-rending drama here, but sadly Hank and Leticia aren't really developed well enough to be able to become fully swept up in their grief. Berry's character is better developed as her failings are much more apparent (poor timekeeping, money problems, a short fuse etc). Although her character wasn't entirely likable, I always got the impression that she was fairly well-intentioned. Sadly, the writers do nothing with Billy Bob Thornton's character and offer very little insight about him as a person. I suppose the anger and resentment that Hank shows to his son is merely a projection of the relationship that exists with Hank and his father. If we keep the focus on characters then let's move on to Peter Boyle's role as Hank's father Buck; he plays a grumpy old man but not an endearing or funny grumpy old man like Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino or Victor Meldrew in One Foot In The Grave, but instead he's an irritating, humourless miserable old git. To saddle Boyle with a role such as this is a criminal waste of his talents.Once Hank and Leticia begin a relationship following the deaths of their children the film takes on a very sleepy and ponderous turn. The chemistry was poor between Hank and Leticia and given the fact that the deaths of their children is ultimately what brought them together it's actually surprising how little focus their deaths seem to have on the plot. There was one scene where Leticia is talking to Hank about her son and how he used to hide candy bars etc - this was quite an effective scene which was cheapened a bit by the two of them 'getting it on' immediately after this touching and emotive moment. Aside from one or two moments, I found myself really bored in the second half of the film and just found it to be a rather dull, ponderous, film with some sex thrown in now and again and found myself just praying for it to end. In addition to this the film occasionally threw in absurd and irrelevant plot points like Hank becoming a Gas Station owner then ignoring this aspect all together after it's been mentioned??? Finally we'll come to Halle Berry and whilst her performance was good here I'd hardly consider it Oscar Worthy. There is a sex scene about halfway through the film where we get to see what Halle's 'got' and I can't help but wonder that after seeing this scene that the critics were thinking with a very different part of their anatomy when they decided to award her with the Oscar.

This is a very dark but powerful film. It is superbly acted and creatively filmed with some very effective focus shifting and other camera techniques that work extremely well without getting in the way. The one negative --- the reason I gave it only a 7 instead of a 9 --- is the excessively graphic, lengthy and frequent sex. It's overdone and unnecessary to the story line. Fine. People get into bed to-gether.That's life. But we do not need every last intimate detail and each protracted orgasmic moan. What otherwise is a fine and powerful film is reduced to the level of a skin flick. Usually death row films end with the execution. This one begins with it. I'd watch it again for the splendid performances by all and the excellent manner in which it has captured the feel of the US south. But if I do, I'll fast forward through all the heavy breathing