American Animals Review (2018)

American Animals

  American Animals is the true story of four college students who plotted one of the mosts infamous heists in American history, stealing rare books worth millions of dollars.
  The style of the film is something you will either really like, or something that will take you out of the movie completely. It's filmed partly like a documentary, with the real thieves and their parents giving their sides of the story. The rest of it is filmed conventionally with actors, and will cut from both throughout.
  The movie takes quite some time to get off the ground, bordering on tedious at times. That said, when it does pick up, it really picks up.
  The film's strengths are in its performances. Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan are soooo much fun to watch, somehow making extremely unlikeable characters, sympathetic and relatable. 

  American Animals doesn't seem deep at first, but as it gets further into the story, it is quiet the poignant exploration of privillage, responsibility, selfishness, morality, and man's deep-longing to be special.
  It's other strength is its cinematography, which is so beautiful that it might as well be a painting itself. There is one shot that intentionally looks just like The Desprate Man painting by Gustave Courbet, and it literally blew my mind when I saw it.
  Overall American Animals is a strong film techincally and performance wise, but it does have pacing issues and the interviews between scenes will either hit or miss with audiences. I give it a 7 out of 10 stars (Very Good)