Edward Norton Gives a Great Performance

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2005)

Edward Norton gives, at least for most of the movie, and incredibly powerful and scary portrayal of a Nazi skinhead, replete with the directed violence and deep-well of hatred of minorities, etc. we would normally associate with this character. What makes his performance special is his laser-like intensity brought to all things skinhead, at least for the pre-prison part of the movie. The movie starts to unravel during Norton's transitional phase to someone more sensitive and socialized. That transition isn't given enough context and his prison "friendship" isn't sufficient to believe he's a changed man. It's all too convenient a plot crutch. Norton's asked to make this shape-shifting believable, but the screenplay lets him down. Nevertheless, Norton's excellent performance deserves to be watched regardless of plot quibbles. N.B. I didn't read the other IMDb reviews of this movie before writing mine (which is the way it should be) -- so I'm now curious to see if others had the same conclusion.