Leticia and Hank come together in their grief, and when they do - when, in particular, they seek some kind of punishment and absolution in sex - it makes for one of the most intense, moving and real moments you're ever likely to witness on film.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 12, 2018

This brutal movie is for adults only.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 26, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 15, 2009

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2008

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 14, 2007

Though marred by script that telegraphs its messages, this drama still manages to tell a compelling love story betweenn a redneck guard and a black widow, well played by Billy Bob Thronton and particularly Halle Berre, who should get Oscar nomination

| Original Score: B | Dec 25, 2006

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Forster makes us too intimate with these characters. But, heavy-handed and derivative as it is, its lead actors strike some resonant chords....

| Original Score: B | Dec 6, 2004

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 12, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 20, 2003

Forster's poised direction, as well as powerful turns from Billy Bob Thornton and the Oscar-winning Halle Berry, make this compelling viewing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 2, 2003

Thornton and Berry show us what acting is in this movie.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 8, 2003

Halle Berry turns in an amazing performance.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 29, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: A | Dec 17, 2002

Recalls Tender Mercies, another astutely acted character study that remained resolutely small-scale and was all the more affecting because it didn't overreach.

Full Review | Dec 2, 2002

It's not a polemic on the death penalty, race relations or family dynamics. It's a character study that really sticks with you.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 6, 2002

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 30, 2002

Much of the film works, performances all around are better than the script, and the whole (especially the first part) is well directed by Marc Forster.

| Oct 21, 2002

A fine film that packs enormous ambition into a modest, carefully executed package.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 15, 2002

In a movie season already nourished with tales of domestic despair, Monster's Ball is the most complex, naturalistic, and sympathetic.

Full Review | Aug 26, 2002