Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: I first saw Edward Norton in that terrible movie, Death To Smoochy. I was thinking: Who the heck is the guy in the purple rhino suit? Then I saw him in Red Dragon: Well, he did a good job in Red Dragon but Red Dragon wasn't that good anyway. Then I saw him in American History X, and just let me say this, this is his best role ever. Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, and the entire cast puts on an outstanding performance. It's about a neo-nazi who gets put in prison for killing two black men trying to steal his truck. Later, he begans to see that what he was doing is wrong and once released, tries to keep his younger brother from being a Nazi himself. There are flashback scenes done in black and white. This is good because it actually feels like you're seeing a flashback and there's no flashbacks within a flashback either. The ending was pretty depressing, but that's something you'll have to see for yourself. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie with a Great Message
Review: The movie's whole point roles together at the very last scene. The movie's point is where Racism gets you. Edward Norton and Edward Furlong are Incredible. I thought Edward Furlong could act when I saw him in Detroit Rock Ciry, they are just phanominal. And since I'm a real punk I'm against racism. An easy way to see it (in my eyes) racism equals nazi. nazi equals government, therefore I hate it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!!
Review: Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) is released from prison to find his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong) caught in the same web of racism and hatred that landed him in prison. The movie centers around Derek, a man who has gone through experiences in his life that have led to him becoming an extremely hateful racist and anti-semitist. His father being shot by a black man is what sparks the change in him and his anger drives his life to a Neo-Nazi world that he ultimately ends when he murders two black men. His experiences in prison make him realize how much of his life he has wasted and his new goal in life is to save his brother from taking the same wrong path he did.
Rating: 
Summary: Propaganda for Illiterates
Review: Wow. The number of glowing reviews for this repellent little work of art shows what a fine job our public schools are doing at turning people into mind-numbed, politically correct morons. American History X juxtaposes the perfectly rational dialogue by the film's main "racist" (Norton's character) with appalling acts of violence, in an attempt to link reasonable and legitimate conservative opinions with outright racism. (I can just imagine what the geniuses who admire this film will say after reading this review... "Reasonable???") The filmmaker is trying to say that holding opinions expressed by certain characters such as opposition to affirmative action/ welfare is just a few steps away from stomping on someone's head. That is the totalitarian tendency of political correctness. American History X wallows in the most pretentious political correctness ever put on film.
Rating: 
Summary: A POWERFUL MOVIE WITH STRONG PERFORMANCES.
Review: "American History X" tells the story of Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), a neo-nazi leader of a skinheads gang of Venice Beach, California. Derek is introduced as a racist scumbag in the first scene, when he kills a couple of black men in front of his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong); Derek is sent to prison and Danny gets so impressed with the actions of his older brother that he decides to follow his footsteps as a radical racist. Then the movie is divided in two kind of scenes: the black and white scenes, the flashbacks, where we can see the past of Derek, his thoughts about every person which is different to a white american person, he just hates black people, jews, mexicans, asiatic people, etc., he just hates them all. And then are the color scenes, the present, where we see a new Derek, a reformed Derek, he is now ashamed of his racist past, and now he has to fight to save his brother of following his footsteps."American History X" is not a popcorn movie; is a powerful drama with strong scenes, strong language, and a very disturbing ending; it requires an open mind because the subjects that the story introduces to us may be controversial. Edward Norton is incredible as Derek, in this movie he offers his best performance so far, and that's saying a lot. In "American History X" he is as impressive as Robert De Niro was in "Raging Bull" or as Daniel Day-Lewis was in "Gangs Of New York". The rest of the cast is also perfect in this movie, particularly Edward Furlong as Danny. The extras on the DVD are not very good, but one of the deleted scenes is very interesting. Perhaps "American History X" may offend some people, but I'm pretty sure that the open minded people would appreciate this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Violent, but with a strong message
Review: Well, if you look at any of my other recommendations, you can tell that I believe that Ed Norton is one of the best actors today. His performance in American History X is no different. Norton continues to avoid the character molds that so many actors fall into. Norton, a dangerous skinhead in the first half of the movie, sheds light on the violence and hatred of certain separatist groups. His violent acts culminate in a very violent murder of a young African American male. The movie then follows Derek Vinyard (Norton) to jail revealing the stress that he feels dealing with the other in-mates. Released from jail, Derek Vinyard tries very hard to lead a new life while at the same time finds out how his past activities effected his younger brother. One of the best storylines in this movie is the relationship between Norton and Edward Furlong. The DVD's is high quality, however, there is nothing extra provided for the DVD fan. Even with the lack of extras, this is still one of Norton's best films and well worth the price.
Rating: 
Summary: Political Propaganda of the highest order...
Review: What was the purpose of this movie? Was it to depict skinhead nazis as bad people filled with hate? No, everyone already knows that. The primary purpose of this movie is to associate conservative thinking as equal to racist nazi skinheads. In other words republicans are racist. America is racist! Time and again in this film the ed norton character will carry on about main stream political issues such as welfare, immigration or the rodney king incident. He recruits new members by carrying on about illegal immigrants and how much they cost the california tax payer. Is that what these vile racist nuts actually care about? In one clip a particularly disgusting member of their group calls his sister a bleep bleep "democrat". His brother later quips his distain for hillary clinton. At a dinner table argument ed norton's mother has a boy friend over; a teacher who happens to be jewish played by elliot gould. The subject is rodney king. Ed norton of course is carrying on about how rodney king deserved to be beaten spouting disgusting racist names. At least two times during the discussion the L word is mentioned in distain. "Liberal hypocritcal bleep". Get the picture? Being liberal or democrat is the antithesis of vile racist scum. So a conservative then must be the same. Simple logic and a simple messge according to this movie. This isn't a political agenda? And of course the american flag always is flying high whenever these bigots are carrying on. The flag is there when the norton character explodes in a racist rage about the murder of his his fire fighting father. A few choice words about welfare are included in his out burst. The flag is there when the skinhead nuts get together for their little club parties. The colors of the flag are even there on the coffee mug of the leader of the skinheads. Get the message? There is a second message in this movie. That is that racism is learned so therefore it can be unlearned. This is the redeeming quality of the film. The skin heads are not necessarily that way from the beginning but are manipulated to think that way. Racism has a trigger. In the course of doing a 3 year prison term he learns that blacks are people too and disassociates himself from the racist skinheads. In case you think the the message has strayed from its original purpose don't worry. Near the end the ed norton character remembers some disparaging things his father said about affirmative action when he was younger. His dad called it "affirmative blacktion". That apprently was the seed. Does hate lose out to love and compassion? No not really. The end is depressing. ...........socks
Rating:
Summary: "PEOPLE LOOK AT ME AND SEE MY BROTHER..."
Review: AMERICAN HISTORY X is completely brilliant. It tells the tale of a skinhead, or ex-skinhead, Derek Vinyard, who has commited the brutal murder of two young Black men who were trying to steal his truck... a truck given to him as a gift from his late father... the man who influenced and introduced his racist ways of life...the man who was murdered while putting out a fire in a bad neighborhood and was shot by a Black drug dealer. Anyways, Derek is convicted of voluntary manslaughter. He spends three years in prison. While in prison, his racist views of life are altered thanks to a friend that he develops in prison who also happens to be a minority. After he is released he is concentrating on changing his life. While the racist views of he and his father did not spread to his entire family, being that his younger sister, Davina, his mother, Doris, and his child sister, Alley are not racist, his views did spread to his little brother, Danny, who witnessed his Derek, a hero and big influence in his life murder a minority, and saw that murder as justification and proof that Derek's racist views were right. Derek is the person responsible for dragging his little brother into a life of gangs, violence and racism, as he once saw that as the right life for Danny. It is now Derek's duty and responsibility to his family to rescue Danny from a violent fate. As the film unfolds, you witness the film through Danny's eyes, as he narrates his tragic story. The movie is entertaining never lets go, as its daring cinematic vision from director, Tony Kaye and writer, David McKenna. You find yourself on the edge of your seat as the story is filled with blistering dialogue and scenes that will haunt the audience. You feel as if you, yourself are apart of the story. As the film unravels down to its groundbreaking conclusion, you find yourself learning a lesson, that can't easily be expressed by words, but only by viewing the film. The great storyline and directing along with daring and mesmerizing photography, combined with the amazing acting talents of such actors as Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Faruiza Balk, Jennifer Lien, Beverly D' Angelo, Ethan Suplee, and many more, makes for a great film that many will enjoy. I am not saying that this film is for all audiences. Beware of the excessive amounts of profanity, violence and sexuality that add to the films gripping style. There was supposedly controversy behind the scenes, and I heard somewhere that Edward Norton is responsible for some of the movie's mesmerizing scenes, but that is all too complicated to dive into, and there is no way of knowing if that's true or not. The bottom line is that this movie is really good. It should've been bigger in theatres than it was, but I can understand that much of the film may not have been well-recieved by certain audiences due to certain scenes in the film and the extremity of the contents, but I do think that it does deserve more credit than it recieved.It should've gotten more publicity. Maybe, they should make a collector's edition DVD with better special features. That would be cool.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, well-acted, but a little contrived
Review: The acting in this film, if cut away from the plot and directing, would definitely rate 5 stars. Unfortunately the other elements of the film drag it down just a bit, but it remains a thought-provoking and affecting film. The plot centers around two sons in a Venice Beach, CA family. The older son, Derek Vinyard, is a former neo-Nazi skinhead who has just been released from prison (he killed two black men while still a skinhead). He comes home to find that his younger brother Danny is headed down the same path, and tries to convince Danny to turn his life around before it is too late. The film starts off very promisingly, with incredible performances from Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. The only minor annoyance is the use of a contrived technique that uses black-and-white for flashbacks and color for present-day events. Dialogue is snappy, and the rantings of Norton's character have an eerie half-logic that can almost make you understand why Derek gains so many followers. There are a string of striking images, such as skinheads bathing a black store clerk in milk during a robbery. The film stays strong until after its midpoint, but it begins to descend into plot contrivances and melodrama. These notes make the ending utterly unsatisfying and a little disappointing, considering what came before. It remains a powerful movie, but tantalizes with the prospect of how great it could have been had the third-act denouement not descended into overdone predicability. A final note: very interesting casting sees supporting performances from Beverly D'Angelo, Fairuza Balk, Ethan Suplee, and even Paul Le Mat from "American Graffiti".
Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: Edward Norton got his second academy award nomination for his
portrayel of the brutal skinhead turn reformed ex con,both parts
he plays really well.But once again he was cheated out of the
award is other nomination was for his supporting role in Primal
Fear witch he was cheated then to,but at least he was nominated.
Edward Norton is like a young Robert De Niro,with the way Norton
got into his role as Derek Vinyard.By getting built,shaving his
head and getting the tattoos and the pasionate acting he does
highlights are the flashbacks when he is on his brutal side.The
movie is great but it isn't for easily offended people it feature
's extreme racism towards any one who's not white,strong languege
,Brutal violence,a violent prison rape scene,and sexual content
but it also has a great story/lesson,flawless acting,and brutally
honest points and it's never boring.
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