Review by Gary Tooze

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• Trailer (2:29 in HD!)

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Description: Edward Norton gives an impassioned performance as Derek Vinyard, a Southern Californian skinhead who must do time after committing a hateful murder. Once in jail, his mind opens and he sees the error of his ways. Upon reentering the real world, he must now turn his attentions to his younger brother Danny, who is swiftly heading down the same path as his brother. Controversy surrounded the film when director Tony Kaye disowned it, claiming that Norton had the film re-edited without Kaye's permission. Norton still got an Oscar Nomination for his intense performance.

***

Derek Vinyard is dangerous, a coiled fury of hate who leads a neo-Nazi gang. But time and events start to change him. He reassesses his ways while doing time for manslaughter and emerges from prison eager to keep his younger brother (Edward Furlong) from falling victim to the thug cycle of violence and payback. It may be too late. Weaving in and out of events past and present in Dereks life, American History X is revealing in its look at white-supremacist gangs and impassioned in its message that hatred and bigotry can be unlearned. Edward Norton (Fight Club, Pride and Glory) portrays Derek, giving a powerful, persuasive, Oscar®-nominated* performance.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from Jason McKiernan at filmcritic.com located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.
 

New Line's Blu-ray of American History X looks solid. The image quality shows some healthy grain with the black and white flashback sequences appearing even grittier. Detail, though rarely pristine, and contrast seem very adept and it's hard to believe the film is over a decade old now. This squeaks into dual-layered territory with the feature being under 30 Gig and the bitrate supports the 2-hour film in the low 30's (Mbps). Colors aren't overly bright and the image is not glossy - this tends to export the realism of the film to an appropriate deal. It doesn't exhibit extravagant depth. Skin tones seem true while daylight scenes, with a setting sun, are occasionally glaring. This Blu-ray has a nice realistic feel and I don't have any demonstrative complaints.  It's refreshing to see the background grain so intense and I don't have evidence of digital manipulations. This image is far superior to the existing NTSC DVD.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio is presented in TrueHD at 1530 kbps along with the choice of s standard 5.1 track. Despite American History X's intensity and occasional seething score by Anne Dudley - it is not an aggressive track with minimal gunplay (two scenes) and mostly dialogue is the proponent of conflict. The mix is not demo-material but supports the film adequately. Subtitles are available in both English and Spanish. We've been told this release is region FREE!

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Powerful and uniquely structured story which produced a very watchable and impacting film. This Blu-ray gives a worthy presentation although we are disappointed in the lack of new extras. Still - this may be considered a must own for Norton's memorable performance and the vast improvement over standard definition transfer. This makes for a potent night in the home theater - that's for sure. 

Gary Tooze

March 30th, 2009