Charlize Theron is a rare Hollywood actress who has carved out a reputation for fearlessness and sheer guts. A former ballet dancer from South Africa, she has avoided roles that solely bank on her chiseled, amazingly statuesque beauty and instead gone far, far out on limbs where very few blonde bombshell actresses ever dare to venture (see "Monster" and you will forever be rid of the cliche about blondes lacking brains).
Like a tall, shimmering glass of vodka, Theron gives the impression of ruthless, precise iciness. But on-screen, her presence exudes moisture and an exotic, discomforting heat. In "The Burning Plain" (released in Japan as "Ano Hi, Yokubou no Daichide"), she unleashes her brutal power full force — as executive producer and centerpiece this is Theron's project and she pulls the story along with ferocious energy, which is something writer/director Guillermo Arriaga seems to lack.
Arriaga had worked chiefly as writer for Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and established a brilliant, allegorical style defined by a splintered chronological sequence ("21 Grams" and "Babel" leap to mind). "The Burning Plain" marks Arriaga's directorial debut and as such, is probably a cause for celebration. Unfortunately, he offers nothing new here, repeating the same storytelling formula bound by certain filmmaking flourishes Inarritu has shown the world many times before. Arriaga's technique — on loan as it may be — mesmerizes, but its stability and predictability belies his original intentions: "The Burning Plain" sets out to be a wild and feverishly chaotic story, but in the end, remains staid, curiously in deference to its own boundaries.