Excellent!

American History X is one of the most heart racing and gut retching films that I have ever seen. It is a film tat a lot of people love because it is just so cool and also because people may just the general plot of the film. It is also one of those films that a lot of people hate aswel because it is an extremely disturbing film with a lot of violence, aggressive characters and extremely disturbing plot too. When I first saw American History X I didnt like it at all because I thought that it was way too violent and quite ridiculous characters at first so it just wasnt quite my type of film at that time until I saw it again and gave it another try. When I did watch it again, I thought to myself: why did I think that this film was crap? It is a film that is sort of appeared as a cult film. Other films like that are Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption and The Usual Suspects.


Edward Norton delivers an absolutely awesome performance as Derek Vinyard. His performance is extremely powerful and a very cult character which sort of leads to his character in Fight Club. I do think that this is Nortons best performance by far but I do still really like him in Fight Club and The Incredible Hulk. I also thought that he was a sort of tortured soul because he regretted what he did, what he suffered in prison and also tat he wants to try his best to help his brother from going down the same bad way he did. He deserved an Oscar nomination but not to win though. I heard that Derek Vinyard was a real person but I dont really believe that. I really liked Edward Furlong too as Danny Vinyard. Both the performance and the character sort of reminds me of Shaun from This Is England even though I havent seen that yet. Mostly because they are both young, both bald and both are going through a hard time with crime. I thought that Edward Furlong made Danny Vinyard in a very slight way quite a fearful young character to come against because he hangs around with the wrong people and they cause trouble everywhere. I think that he should have been a close nominee for Best Supporting Actor. I also really liked Beverly D Angelo too as Doris Vinyard because she acts like a typical close relative who cares for her sons and what their fate could be. Also, because she makes a really good impression of a supporting character in a film like this.


I thought the direction was quite good especially when there were the flashbacks of the film when it went black and white and there were slow-motion visual effects too. The screenplay was descent too because of the type of film. It is mostly a typical cult script which makes it quite similar compared to Fight Club and Eastern Promises. The chemistry between Derek Vinyard and Danny Vinyard is very tense indeed because the audience dont know who either character are going to react when they reveal about what they might have done before. It is also very emotional because Derek really tries to persuade Danny that it really is bad but Danny probably thinks it isnt that bad because Derek did it. It is like a complete clash but emotionally more than anything else. This film had one of the most effective and shocking twists at the end of a film that I have ever seen. It is a twist that will make you keep your mouth open until the very end of the film because of the complete shock and unexpected event that occurs.


As I said, I was told that Derek Vinyard was apparantly real-life person but I dont think he is because it would be stated as a biography film and it would also be a film that would have ending credits with what happened to Derek afterwards. I personally think that this is one of those films that the director didnt earn very much credit for his work on this absolutely awesome film. As I have already said, this is my favourite Edward Norton acting performance but I enjoyed Fight Club more. This film truly had one of the most powerful endings in the history of cinema and at the same time, it tries to send a message. It had a very powerful beginning too. The only think that disappointed me was that this film was quite slow and it didnt adapt together quick enough only until it was on for about 30 minutes. Apart from that tiny flaw, this is an absolutely awesome film that needs a lot of credit for its awesome qualities.

9/10