Worst film of the year.

Rating: 1/10 (27 October 1998)

Yeah, it's stunning, all right -- in the way a cattleprod up the old wazoo is stunning. Alleged director Tony Kaye should be grateful to New Line for taking away this ad-hoc piece o' crud, which he admits he winged from a script he never even liked. (Gods of videotape and DVD, please spare us his cut, which he never completed, by the way.) From the very first frames, it's clear that Kaye has no rapport with his actors, and has zero idea how to get decent, let alone consistent, performances out of them. As the buffed-up skinhead leader, Norton tries hard, but he has three different personalities in the film, with the transitions between them either patently phony or (mostly) non-existent. A worthy subject, but this "X"ecrable effort proves why some people are cut out to do 30-second commercials and not grandiose "masterpieces". In short, this guy makes Oliver Stone look the subtlest man on the planet. For all you message- seekers, here's the flick's big payoff: "Hate is baggage". There, you've just been saved eight bucks and two tortured hours.