Hard viewing - strong message

Rating: 4/10 (20 June 2004)

Though this film does not work for me. A film based on violence does not appease me. Edward Norton excellent, Brad Pitt more or less suffrable, and Helena Bonham-Carter totally miscast. I wish she would come back to real films made in the UK. She seems to have been stuck into this one rather as a decorative piece, a bit of girl in an overstretched `macho' display, which, ultimately, does not convince. It is that embedded American tendency to go over the top in exaggerated play-offs, whether action or dialogue, that is so off-putting. If you like seeing people go off the rails, if you like to see naked debauchery, here you have it.