I'm afraid I really did not enjoy this - and not for the reason you might think.

Rating: 2/10 (11 June 2005)

I'm afraid I really did not enjoy this - and not for the reason you might think (I wasn't disturbed by the racism or the violence portrayed by the film). I am afraid that contrary to the seemingly endless praise given to this film and its director, Tony Kaye, and indeed recommendations from my friend that I should see this film, when I did I felt cheated and annoyed. There's no denying that what the film portrays is shocking and powerful, and that Edward Norton's performance is equally powerful, almost coming close in intensity to De Niro's Bickle, and the set-pieces are well made, but the inability for the filmmakers' to create a convincing story spoilt the whole film for me - the way we see in endless flashbacks (often the sign of a weak storyteller), Norton's firstly ordinary, sane, likable character's seemingly easy conversion to a Nazi maniac just by his dad uttering a few racist sentences at the dinner table is frankly ridiculous. Plus his seemingly easy conversion back from a Nazi maniac while in prison, just through speaking to a nice black guy. I'm sorry, but it just negates the whole film's power. Not to mention the endless flashy camera techniques used by former ad director Kaye, NOTE: slow motion close ups of a running shower tap does not a good film make. The film opens on a black and white shot of the ocean, for no apparent reason, leading to the conclusion that Kaye thought he could appear as a 'clever' and 'sophisticated' filmmaker by showing us an 'arty' opening sequence. This kind of pretencion is as irritating as the lack of convincing back story. Nope, sorry Mr Kaye, wasn't for me.