American History X
I recall leaving the cinema after watching America History X a little shaken up and convinced it was somewhat of a brilliant film. My second viewing came many years later when I recognised this for the piece of crap it actually is. What a bad film. Don’t get me wrong, Edward Norton is frickin great, but that doesn’t stop the film from sucking. Everything is so heavy-handed and I’m still not sure what the point of it all was.
As far as I can tell Norton plays a skinhead Neo-Nazi who kills some black would-be-thieves and goes to jail where he learns tolerance by befriending what must be the most annoying black guy in movie history. Lesson learned right? Well, nup, because then his little brother Ed Furlong gets killed by a black kid from his school as a result of his own hatred. Wow, that’s like deep.
Word is Norton hijacked the film from the director Tony Kaye, but fuck knows if that was for the film’s benefit or detriment.