DVD Movie Rating for: Monster's Ball

3 out of 5

Movie Plot of: Monster's Ball

Set in the Southern United States, 'Monster's Ball' is a tale of a racist white man, Hank (played by Billy Bob Thornton), who falls in love with a black woman named Leticia (Halle Berry). Ironically Hank is a prison guard working on Death Row who executed Leticia's husband (Sean Combs). Hank and Leticia's interracial affair leads to confusion and new ideas for the two unlikely lovers

DVD Production Details of: Monster's Ball

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry

Director: Marc Forster

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby

Studio: Vidmark Productions Ltd
DVD Features:
Theatrical trailer(s)

Audio commentary by director Marc Forster & director of photography Roberto Schaefer

Audio commentary by Halle Berry & Billy Bob Thornton and director Marc Forster

Deleted Scenes & Outtakes

"Making of the Music" featurette

Widescreen letterbox format

DVD Easter Eggs

Trailer of director's prior film  

An obvious egg discovered here. Go to the Special Features screen. Click the up arrow of your remote above where it lists "trailer" (for the film's trailer). A highlighted icon appears. Select this to view the trailer for Marc Forester's prior film "Everything Put Together".

4 Hidden Trailers  

Egg 1:

On the Main Menu above "Play Movie" is a picture of the Lions Gate movie logo very faint, press up and you will be taken to trailers for a movie diredcted by Ethan hawk called "Chelsea Walls". Second Trailer for "Rules of Attraction" - starring James Van Der Beek and the chick from Knight's Tale.3rd trailer is for "The Cat's Meow" with kirsten Dunst

Egg 2:

Same as above but press up on the 'Special Features' page and another logo will appear taking you to the trailer for "Everything Put Together"

Cast of the movie: Monster's Ball

• Billy Bob Thornton .... Hank Grotowski
• Halle Berry .... Leticia Musgrove
• Taylor Simpson .... Lucille
• Peter Boyle .... Buck Grotowski
• Gabrielle Witcher .... Betty
• Heath Ledger .... Sonny Grotowski
• Amber Rules .... Vera
• Charles Cowan Jr. .... Willie Cooper
• Taylor Lagrange .... Darryl Cooper
• Mos Def .... Ryrus Cooper
• Anthony Bean .... Dappa Smith
• Francine Segal .... Georgia Ann Paynes

Photo Gallery of the movie: Monster's Ball

Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size, high resolution photographs of Halle Berry in Monster's Ball

Reviews of the movie: Monster's Ball

The unflinching realism and searing performances of Monster's Ball are stunning in all the connotations of the word. Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) and Leticia (Halle Berry) inhabit stark, queasy realities of the contemporary South, he as a death row corrections officer and she as the soon-to-be widow of an inmate (Sean Combs) whose execution Hank helps conduct. In the aftermath of the execution, both lose their children to tragic deaths and they form an unlikely bond. In the hands of lesser participants, the fateful plot might strain credibility and seem tailored to allow for liberal sermonizing about the obvious wrongs of our legal justice system, but director Marc Forster and cinematographer Roberto Schaefer balance the contentious nature of the film's issues--the death penalty, racism both overt and subtle, interracial couples--with a flawless attention to character and visual detail that completely convinces. The moral ambiguity of both central characters is given full voice as our sympathy is drawn out reluctantly at first but all the more resolutely in the end. Thornton draws from seemingly limitless resources to deliver yet another outstanding performance, but it is Halle Berry who is a revelation as she sustains throughout the complex tenor of brutality witnessed and raw courage defined

Monster's Ball is a saddening yet beautifully realized drama about loss, lonlieness and things coming together by different yet similar circumstances. Billy Bob Thornton plays a officer on Death Row who executes a man who was once married to a woman (Halle Berry) who is now a single mother with little money, a crummy job and 30 days to leave the house. Through chance, among other deep elements, she meets Thornton and then the film goes on from there examining how they find some small comfort in each other. Not for the weak, but it's worth the journey, with Thornton, Berry, Peter Boyle as Thornton's bitter father, and even Puff Daddy (here as Sean Combs) in a small role, delivering deep and moving performances, and the best cinematography of the year by Roberto Schafer.