Wow... just... wow.

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2006)

If you decide to watch this movie, be prepared to be struck to the very core of your soul. Very few movies I have seen manage to dig so deep into my heart as this one has, and I am a critical, skeptical, analytical kind of guy---I am about the furthest thing there is from a sappy, ready-to-cry-at-any-time moviegoer!
Set in Los Angeles, the story of the movie is that Derek Vineyard (Edward Norton) is sent to prison after a double murder that is motivated by racial hatred. During his three year stay, he undergoes changes and realizes the error of his ways, only to find out that his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) is headed down the same path that Derek once was. After getting out on parole, Derek is determined to make sure that Danny does not wind up making the same mistakes as him.
Although the movie jumps back and forth from the present (shot in color) to the past (shot in black and white), it is not confusing in the least.
This movie grinds and twists your emotions like very few other movies can, because it pulls absolutely no punches as it exposes you to some of the darkest facets of human beings. You'll gasp, you'll cringe and you may even cry as the movie demonstrates to you how warped and vicious human beings can become when they are consumed by anger and hatred---and ultimately, the destruction and horrible endings that that anger and hatred leads to if we cling to them long enough.
One last thing---the acting in this movie was phenomenal. Every actor did an astounding job with their character, but I have to mention how off the scales Edward Norton's acting was in this movie. I mean, he has NEVER failed to impress me, but wow... to see him go from a man who is so filled with such high octane rage and hatred, to a man who is consumed by remorse and sorrow as he at last realizes his mistakes, to a
much more soft-spoken, reasonable man who is filled with compassion and concern for his younger brother, and at last to a man who is torn apart by agony and grief as he fully realizes what his mistakes have truly cost him... and to play all of it flawlessly... well, I just can't say enough how good of a performance he gave.
To see the true consequences of one man's hate, and at the same time, seeing that one man's hate tear apart his family---it's something that is not easily forgotten. This movie teaches why, as Edward Furlong's character puts it, "hate is baggage".