A Powerful Gripping Drama

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2012)

It is rare that I enjoy a drama movie, but this is one exception. This movie carries with it a powerful and gripping performances by Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, and all the others in this movie.
Basic Movie Guide: Derek Vinyard's (played by Edward Norton) father is killed while fighting a fire by suspected Compton drug dealers. Over the next few years, he transforms from a innocent teenager, to a anger fueled Neo-Nazi, who begins a gang in California called the D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ) and recruits young impressionable teenagers to commit acts of intimidation on immigrants and. One night, he murders two Crips and is sent to prison for three years. While in prison, he must confront a harsh truth: his little brother Danny (played by Edward Furlong) is heading down the same path that his older went down. Faced with this revelation, Derek must make a choice: continue down his path of destruction, or forsake the lifestyle that he, himself, built.
My Notes:
Spoiler Alert (may give away certain aspects of the movie but nothing too much I promise, but still if you wish to be surprised avoid reading until you see the section entitled "Verdict")
The rape in this movie is (while not as graphic as one of my other movie reviews I Spit on Your Grave) is still disturbing. However, it is not completely unwatchable. And while my previous review of I Spit on Your Grave may cast me in a hypocritical light, this rape is not graphic, it is enough to tell you what happened, and then it is over. It doesn't hang on it over ten or twenty minutes and then try to make a movie out of it. It starts, it ends in less than thirty seconds, and the movie continues.
The murder of one of the gang members in this movie is also disturbing, and graphic. The way he is killed is brutal, but it's over in less than second, if you blink, you will miss it.
And the ending is something that you will never see coming. It will makes some people literally jump in their seats, I promise you of that.
Spoiler Ended (Continue Reading)
Verdict:
Some may view this as a racism melodrama. Some may hate this movie because it may come across as preachy, or may even see it as trying too hard to be something more than just entertainment. But for my part, I enjoy this movie, and highly praise this movie for it's message, its powerful acting and how it depicts racism for what it truly is: a fire that sucks in everything around to feed it and burns everything it touches, and sometimes that flame burns you the most.
Rating 10/10