THE JANITOR'S REVIEW OF:
AMERICAN HISTORY X (1998)

OPENING THOUGHTS

    Sometimes when you watch a movie, you just feel like it's going to be too involved and more effort than you want to put out while doing nothing. I felt this way when I started this movie. I thought that it was going to be something that was going to soak up my time and make me think more than I wanted to. Well I was part right, It did make me think a lot, however I found it much more enjoyable than I had imagined.

ACTING

    EDWARD NORTON played the hardened skinhead Derek Vinyard. Norton took his role and gave it his all exceeding my expectations and then some. I
think that his acting was top notch and I really felt connected to his character.
    EDWARD FURLONG played Danny Vinyard, Derek's little brother, eager to follow in his footsteps. Furlong was just fit for the role. I saw a loss of innocence in his character and I was instantly pulled into his story. I don't think that I would consider Furlong one of my favorite actors, but he did an excellent job in this movie.
    THE SUPPORTING CAST was also good. Ethan Suplee played Seth; the overweight racist pawn on the D.O.C. Suplee was the dumb muscle and had an important role in this movie. I saw the brainless drone in him and it made me think about all the followers in this world.

DIRECTION AND SCRIPT

    TONY KAYE directed this movie and did a great job. A movie like this takes a lot of concentration to make it not look like a documentary but more of an informative source of entertainment. I like the angles that he decided to use as well as the random slow motion effects that he used to evoke suspense.
    DAVID MCKENNA wrote the script and also did a fine job. I liked everything about the dialogue and about the choice of words used. I couldn't imagine that this was an easy tack for McKenna and so I applaud him for the hard work that was put forth.

THE VERDICT

    Sometimes there has to be a little shock value to make something interesting, it's not like the old days when they could instill emotion in someone with just simple words. People are being desensitized by what they watch and it takes a really good movie to captivate someone with out an extreme amount of gore or nudity. I think that this movie hit the nail on the head when it came to informative entertainment. I give this movie my highest grade and I highly recommend that people see it!
 
 

RATING: A

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