oddly dissatisfying

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2002)

The problem with "American History X" has nothing to do with the acting. Edward Norton and Edward Furlong are both convincing and terrific, despite the fact that Norton's character seems more like a misguided youth than a evil neo-nazi (the brutality of his crimes seemed to exist only to mask this impression). The fact is that it tries to cram too much into too little. Ideas and characters are presented that are never followed up on and thus the film seems disjointed. Despite the fact that Norton's character broke through a lot of the typical characteristics that typify the neo nazi, the prison scenes contain characters that exemplify many these stereotypes. The well rounded characters (such as Guy Torry as the laundry guy in prison) are canceled out by poorly developed ones (Faruiza Balk and Ethan Suplee as a couple of dunce nazi followers). The flashbacks really aren't that well placed in my opinion. The opening scene presented Norton's character with simply too much brutality, and seemed designed to do nothing more than shock the audience. The scenes that supposedly develop the background of the Norton character are really pointless and do not at all indicate the nature of his beliefs. His dad telling him that affirmative action is wrong is not the reason he became a crazed nazi. Tony Kaye clearly wasn't thrilled with the final product, as evidenced by his bizarre "Humpty Dumpty" scandal. He just didn't get all of what he wanted on to the screen. The overrated reaction to this movie is hard to explain. Emotionally, the film is fairly powerful and contains a great ending, though it is a bit too preachy. The "hate is bad" message was really an elementary conclusion that was drawn to a sprawling movie that really should have aimed higher.