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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Gangster > Latino > American Me (Universal HD-DVD)

American Me (HD-DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Film: C+

 

 

Edward James Olmos’ attempted a Gangster genre film with American Me in 1992, but despite some serious ambitions, it never worked.  As a “realistic” counterpoint to Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983), Olmos plays a Latino drug lord who rises to the top while imprisoned, then becomes a target when he leaves on top.  The film falls into formula, including an unrealistic all-male rape scene (which actually got a member of the film’s production murdered in retaliation for being offensive by a real life gang) which is the kind of scene trying to communicate meaning like…

 

“You get into crime, you get raped!”

 

However, the crime doesn’t pay message is not backed up well enough and is typical of too much of the oversimplistic moments that are weaved throughout Olmos’ directorial debut.  There are other ways to deal with this message and the film plays it too safe ideologically to do so, which is why it never works when all is said and done.

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 VC- 1 digital High Definition image is one of the most disappointing I have seen in this format to date, with a lack of detail and depth so bad, it might as well be the DVD version.  The original sound was Dolby A-type analog sound, but the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix cannot upgrade the dated quality and the combination is sad.  The only extras are a trailer and documentary about the real thing called Lives In Hazard that I liked more than the film itself.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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