I DON’T GET AMERICAN HISTORY X
MOVIES I DON’T GET. EPISODE 1.
First off, fuck Edward Norton. His generic brown-haired handsomeness and nasely voice will be his ultimate downfall. That and the fact that he plays the same character in every fucking movie, it’s like “HEY GUYS, I’M EDWARD NORTON, I SMILE A LOT AND ACT LIKE A REAL NICE DUDE,” I get it Ed… you jackass, it does not need to be reiterated in every flick (and for the record I do not find your smile to be even somewhat dazzling in the least and I believe that you very well may molest Tawaianese children). I almost avoided this movie entirely because the top billed actor was Edward Norton and because I had heard the egotistical fuck actually recut the movie himself to get more screentime.
Edward Norton aside, there is quite a bit of hype about American History X. You usually can’t have a conversation without the words powerful, insightful, disturbing, unforgettable, or intense. I’m going to say this once: Constant utilization of slow motion does not equal drama. Even when you set pulsating Hollywood strings over it. In fact, when half of a movie is in slow motion with pulsing Hollywood strings it may be a sign that it is stuck so far up its own preachy ass that it has dropped the point and is just utilizing its subject to make you squeamish, disturbed, and to the brink of tears like a schoolgirl. Silly gooses! Did you really think Dan Luke would be subjected to your emotional manipulations because you are dealing with real racial issues? Go fuck yourself. AND WHILE I AM NOT AN EMOTIONLESS ANDROID SENT BACK IN TIME TO MAKE LOVE, I WILL NOT HAVE MY HUMAN EMOTIONS POKED AND PRODDED AT WITH YOUR INTENSE SUBJECT MATTER.
Even the constant utilization of slow-mo would be forgivable if the movie actually dealt with the issues it’s based on, but it decides halfway through to drop them in order to study characters with as much depth as a cardboard cutout of Paris Hilton (Go generic pop-culture jokes). And this may be partially the fault of the actors, lingering at every pause they possibly can to heighten the tension (Seriously, is Edward Furlong (aka YOUNG JOHN CONNOR) speaking with a speech impediment, is he mentally fucking handicapped, or is he speaking to a metronome at half pacing?) and injecting so much melodrama that you would think this was a pilot for a Lifetime show, if it was television for men.
Take Ethan Surplee’s character for instance, here is a character exaggerated to the point of a rabid dog. He hates black people, that’s it. No reason. He has no back story, no neurosis, he’s just a bad dog salivating hungrily at the opportunity to attack a black dude; growling and woofing so we can all look on in the sheer horror of it all. And the protagonist, who we will call Edward Norton, played by Edward Norton, goes from an Al Pacino-esque psycho, racist killer that curb stomps black people to… well, a typical douchebaggy Edward Norton (with his awkward smiles and an awkward tight white shirt, which greatly accentuates his seemingly gravity defying nipples) at the flip of the switch. Mainly because Edward Norton can’t act and show proper character development.
And that is the problem with American History X. It’s about as subtle as its famous cranium stomping scene.
But this doesn’t really matter, because nobody talks about American History X THE MOVIE, they only speak of the ending. And what about that ending? Well, it’s fucking stupid. I get it’s message: Racism is a continual cycle we all must pay for, Jesus H. Christ what have we gotten ourselves into! But I will say to have a 30 second scene, with characters that are only on screen for 30 seconds prior to that scene, and didn’t really interact in a meaningful or even racial manner, come together to fuck up an older John Connor is a cheap way out.
American History X is a bloated, preachy film that utilizies racism as a way to tease and disturb you like some ten year old playground bully. And it utilizes Edward Norton, an asshole with gravity defying nipples. So you do the math.