American Violence (2017) Online

Starting with a violent murder case and a Dr. in criminal psychology to review the case gave me an impression that I would have a good movie but I was totally disappointed.

The story line is totally broken and it's like sketches that does not add to each other. Many murder cases but it seems like a random events that don't build something or contribute to the characters development. many useless events are added or at least not used to affect the story or the characters. The romance is so cheap and the main character fall in love in just 5 minutes and wanted to propose in a week later.

The characters are so shallow. They failed in showing deep psychological side for the characters despite introducing a Dr. in criminal psychology as a main character. There are no logic in introducing the characters. the back stories of side characters are totally neglected. The main character is always act like a superman with super skills so he is a thief, a sniper, a hacker and many more.

In the end of the a movies out of the blue they try to shove a message in our mind that the execution is bad act . without any proper justifications the characters just change their minds. just a sudden 180 degree flip of the character opinions. Making the message is totally alien to the movie story line.

In Nutshell It's a very shallow movie and you will not be satisfied if you are looking for good drama, violent crimes or deep psychology.

Greetings again from the darkness. Making a political statement is nothing new for movies; however, if a filmmaker takes a stance on a controversial issue, the final product needs to be insightful and compelling in order to make a difference. Seemingly intent on making a mockery of the Death Penalty, director Timothy Woodward Jr delivers little more than a B-movie with a hyper-serious tone, but a script that is at times laughably off the mark.

Even before the opening credits roll, we get our first brutal murder … just moments after persnickety Bruce Dern belittles his wife over the sandwich she made for him. Next up, Dr. Amanda Tyler (Denise Richards) is being asked by the Assistant District Attorney to consult on the case of a death row inmate, to determine if a stay of execution should be granted. See, Dr. Tyler is a criminal psychologist. Yes, she's played by Denise Richards. If this causes you frightening flashbacks to Ms. Richards' role as a physicist in The World is Not Enough, then you begin to have some idea what this movie is like.

The inmate is Jackson Shea (a formidable Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau) and as he tells his life story, we are provided scenes that explain how he got to this point. It's a pretty interesting backstory starting with sleazy Uncle Mike, an alcoholic mother, and a seemingly endless array of circumstance that might have formed the basis of a better movie. You will note many familiar faces along the way: Michael Pare as Shea's partner, Patrick Kilpatrick as a criminal kingpin, Johnny Messner as a fellow criminal, and Emma Rigby as Shea's love interest. For you football fans, you'll likely reminisce about Brian Boswell when you witness Rob Gronkowski as a gun-toting bodyguard.

All of this could have been good criminal fun if we weren't being incessantly slapped upside the head with the anti-Death Penalty message … how trading death for death isn't appropriate, and for tilting the scales to show how criminals are basically good guys who accidentally end up in a bad spot thanks to a broken system and culture of violence. It's all a bit too heavy-handed and self-righteous, taking away some of the joy in chuckling at Ms. Richards playing it straight as an intellectual idealist.

Oh my god, someone actually wrote words and made actors (not real good ones) say them out loud. Lost track of who was who. Hated every single character. So much plastic surgery I thought they'd melt. Why did Gronk decide to be in this? Thought it would never end! I need to go self flagellate for making myself watch this to the excruciating end.

This movie was presented beautifully (i.e. visual, editing and soundtrack) and written horribly. With more care in writing Denise Richard's character could have been much more three-dimensional and worth watching. She tried her best to dress up poor dialogue. The whole thing felt extremely rushed, plastic, and the story is superficial. Missed opportunities in writing made for a big miss overall. Every scene snowballs and falls apart under careful watch. For example: A scene involving a priest reading from a bible. A PRIEST... is holding a New World Translation (Jehovah's Witness) bible... and reading King James words. I'm not even religious. The writing is the foundation of the art... this is built on mud.

I think I can explain the discontinuity between these very bad and very good reviews for American Violence. Spurring the bad reviews, I think we can all agree that the casting of Denise Richards for a part she is not even remotely believable in was a poor decision. Her acting is atrocious, but let's not let that fact cause us to disparage other experienced actors in the movie like Bruce Dern, whose portrayal of a morally bankrupt judge who double-crosses the main character was impeccable. The character was so despicable, I wanted to knife him myself after watching the movie.

I also don't believe the movie was an unequivocal "anti-death-penalty message" from "liberal Hollywood." That would be Dead Man Walking. The ending was in fact ambiguous. That the main character planned to go straight and use his ill-gotten gain to benefit himself and his girlfriend by fulfilling their rosy dreams did not take away from the fact that he had committed horrible crimes to defend himself and come out on top. I've wanted to kill people like Bruce Dern's character all of my life, but I've never done it, preferring to let karma take its inexorable course so I could remain on track to fulfill my dreams by legitimate means.

Being a nice guy and having the ability to delay gratification may not get you what you want in the end simply because life is too damn short, but short-circuiting your life in order to get those dreams sooner and more easily only works for action movie heroes and rich guys who can afford to pay the right people to look the other way from their sins.

The best exchange was the argument between the ADA, Ben Woods, and Dr. Tyler when he explains to the naive doctor how society and justice work and why we still execute our most heinous criminals. Some behaviors just merit the death penalty. Period.

On the other hand, talking about the morality or lack thereof of killing our citizens misses the main point of the argument against applying the death penalty which speaks to the capriciousness of the system in applying it. Can fallible people really be trusted to decide accurately and fairly which citizens should die? Aren't we all complicit to some degree in building and maintaining a society that produces the conditions that create killers? I can't address these complex issues in this review and the movie doesn't try to answer them, either.

As others have said here, let's just remember that this movie, all movies, is/are in the end entertainment, and try not to read too much serious purpose into the screenplays. If you were entertained, good review, but if not, bad review. I was entertained by the story and how the format managed to spare us from enduring Richards' shoddy acting by eliminating the character for most scenes in the film overall. I thought it told an engaging story with good, believable acting performances by most of the actors.

"American Violence" sucks. There's no other way to say it. This is one grade Z, bottom of the barrel stinkfest gathering of some Z-list once-celebrity "actors" in a pathetic "important" message movie which went straight to DVD because it's a total bomb.

This movie can be summed up in five words: The Death Penalty Is Bad. A thinly veiled plea for mercy in consideration in the plight of those about to get the needle on Death Row. They didn't really mean to do those terrible things, they were victims of circumstance!! The viewer gets beaten over the head with you-should-feel-bad for the perpetrator of nasty behavior for the entire running time of this cheapjack Lifetime movie "event".

Super lawyer/teacher Denise Richards takes on the case of some idiot played by Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau (giving you soulful/insane bristling beard realness like 99% of the unknown actors in Hollywood). The inmate has done bad things because he was a child victim of his sweaty pedo uncle while his sweaty drunk mommy refused to see/admit her brother was doing the diddly dance with her son. Everyone sweats and the now grown victim beats uncle twiddly fingers bloody with a baseball bat. Other terrible things happen to our victim later in life while he commits violence on others, eventually goes to prison where he's victimized yet again by a warden who's obiviously got Alzheimer's. Our beardo victim gets some prison pole in the shower by party animals and eventually gets out of the Big House in time to shank the warden. He gets caught and before he can take the big sleep, Super Lawyer Denise Richards (looking like her ex-hubby Charlie Sheen did some "Winning!" on her before the cameras on this crapfest rolled, leaving her gaunt while her straggly hair sucks the last of her life out) steps in to try and get the beardo's sentence commuted. Denise looks rode hard and put away wet while eventually not saving the beardo's life. He takes the needle and cries while his wife or girlfriend or whoever it is makes an angelic visit as the drugs sap the life out of him. ZZzzz.

Anyway, this movie sucks. It's poorly shot and edited. The dialog is stupendously terrible. The acting is at least one level below community dinner theatre. Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau aka the victim is just a beard pretending to be an actor, no one will remember him a year from whenever this garbage was made. Denise Richards has lost the hot from her "Wild Things" years, almost three decades ago. Bruce Dern, the warden who gets knifed while bitching about a sandwich is a sad reflection of his glory years.

If you can watch this junk without repeatedly hitting the fast forward feature for your device, more power to you. Most likely, you'll want to commit violence of your own on the service you streamed/rented from.

This movie had potential, but takes itself way too seriously and it's cast of budget-friendly actors turn in uneven performances. Denise Richards is trying too hard to shed her bimbo persona in a highly intellectual role as a renowned criminal psychologist. Kaiwi Lyman is uneven, veering into melodramatic overstatement in his scenes with Richards, but is much better in flashback scenes of his life of crime, especially when paired with Micheal Pare as his former small time criminal partner. Bruce Dern phones one in for the paycheck and the rest of the cast is varying degrees of bad, from unwatchable to to just ok. The story is all over the place, trying in places to be a character study of small time criminals-which would have been interesting, then trying to be a slick action-y heist movie, then trying to be political with it's socially conscious anti-death penalty message. It never hits the mark with any of it and winds up just being a mess.

I can't honestly say I was expecting a movie with Denise Richards headlining to be of any real quality, but my god, has there ever been a poorer cast of actors?!

Every character comes across forced; every line sounds like they were reading from the script in their hand; as if the director was just a film student who cast his family members for a class assignment.

Do yourself a favour - just don't bother.

Film is generally average, not bad or great. But in the execution chamber the priest is holding a copy of 'The New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures'. A bible internationally recognized for the accuracy of translation from the original language by bible scholars around the world, produced by Jehovah's Witnesses. The priest in the witness room was either Catholic or Protestant and they refuse to use accurate this bible, what gives??????

Poor writing, poor acting, and poor directing. This is one of the worst movies in the last 25 years. Movie went off on tangents and couldn't stay in a cohesive storyline. Really bad acting. Oh what a waste of 90 mins.

AMERICAN VIOLENCE is so bad it makes BLOODSPORT seem worthy of consideration for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay.

None of the story-line of AMERICAN VIOLENCE is even remotely plausible. The film's biggest premise is that Dr. Amanda Tyler (Denise Richards), a college professor, would actually have some say about the outcome of a man sentenced to death in Texas. Good Luck!

The entire film is just a hamfisted and amateurish presentation of an anti-death penalty point of view backed up by weak and tired arguments that have been offered time and time again. What was desperately needed was a little fresh insight on 'The Facts'. And, the violent sequences to bolster the argument against violence were corny, poorly presented, and completely unbelievable.

The whole project made me wonder what it might be like to have a film where toddlers recite the dialog from GOODFELLAS, and even that wacky undertaking would probably be more realistic, credible, and dramatic than anything in AMERICAN VIOLENCE. The only reason that I gave it two stars instead of one, is that I like Bruce Dern- maybe he was hard-up for money.

Texas is wavering on a execution because it's an election year, so they ask a 'world renowned psychologist' to conduct an interview and make a recommendation - Yeah right. She agrees because it's a good opportunity for her studies in the cycle of violence - Plausible. The 'world renowned psychologist' has her eyes opened and lady bits tingling in 72 hours - Just stop.

How about interviewing a violent offender with nothing to lose? No problem, let's just push this desk up against the bars with electrical cords in reach. Need a light? Here's a Zippo they let me to bring in. Need to build rapport? No problem, I'll start with anger and self-righteousness. Don't like something he says? Wad up some paper and throw it at him. Heard a few stories that got you changing your mind? Stand up against the bars with him like you're the big spoon. Back at the university teaching? Tell us how you feel by glancing wistfully at the Zippo on the lectern.

I chuckled when the guy's love interest was introduced. I'm not sure what was happening with her outfit, but a Goodwill thrift store cried that day. She seemed to be wearing too big business type clothes on top and raggedy underwear looking shorts on bottom. The humor stopped though when she started talking in that awful accent. Her clothes got better, the script and acting didn't. Not sure how much a person can take of a grown woman lounging in a bikini in front of her father, whom she calls daddy, with her chest thrust out. Don't worry, she throws out some range when she pouts and coos at him. Like when daddy offered her up to his body guard. I think it was the movie's attempt at humor. God stop the pain of this script.

2 stars - the cinematography wasn't bad.

Possibly uses every cliché in this genre and still plays like a poorly written country and western song. Acting is shallow and hackneyed, dialogue is stilted and amateur. Can't make its mind up if it wants to be Bonnie and Clyde or just a generic bad guy who is really a good guy but life done him wrong flick. This is just MTV fodder, better off watching We Need to Talk about Kevin.

I never thought I would say this, but Denise Richards wasn't so bad, although her level of grooming was not appropriate to the character in the slightest. Clearly a really bad script. The guy that plays the character Jackson was absolutely horrible and his terrible acting only made Richards' performance slightly better. He was so campy she actually came off as someone who had some sort of vague craft. She's not a good actress, but she can occasionally deliver a line. I mean, she's good enough to make acting look easy, but also not good/confident enough to know she doesn't need to look attractive. I turned this movie off almost immediately after he started throwing his tantrum.

First review on IMDb, simply had to come out of the woodwork for this one.

Preface: I gave up about 30 minutes in- the agony was akin to that which half the cast was put through, except mine was real. It was an onslaught of bad.

Nice to see Denise try and breakaway from the bimbo typecast with this 'serious' role, but perhaps it's best she stayed there? Her performance in Bond was Oscar-worthy next to this piece of rubbish. From the very start her lines in this movie (refuse to dub it a film) seemed completely forced, utterly unnatural to her- you can tell that the characters lexicon and train of thought is far removed from Denise's via how unnatural the delivery is.

The lead actor-- you know, the rugged Gosling wannabe-- was painful to watch and actually somehow managed to best Denise in his horrible performance. The acting in the cell scene where he's first introduced to Denise is some of the worst I've ever seen; he was a caricature/mockery of a hodgepodge of our favourite Hollywood bad boys. The whole "tick tock" thing was laughable, as was his attempt to come off as mysterious (or was it more coy?). Seriously, I developed a twitch watching this guy act.

"Martin", the guy who takes him under his wing out of prison was another insufferable casualty of this film. Absolutely deplorable 'acting'. Think "Tony Soprano as a fetus" and you'd still not quite be there. What a joke of a character.

Didn't get far enough to comment on the story. Frankly, it could of been the next Shawshank from a story standpoint, but no way was I gonna' sit through another second of that. The torture in the film is a great analog to how I felt watching it. I don't know whether to fault the director, screenwriter, casting director or actors. Oh, also the CGI...

The funny thing is the most interesting part of this film was the beginning scene when the older man(Bruce Dern) was arguing with his wife about her choice of menu plan for his meal. Once that scene was over the movie went down hill for me. Like many comments and reviews I feel like this move failed to pick what it wanted to be. Is it a social study on human behavior and violence. Necessary or unnecessary need for the death penalty or just a crime drama? Either way this film does not deliver in either area. This film might could have been better had it not tried to take itself to seriously especially when it was unable to entertain or keep my attention no matter what direction they decided to go in. My suggestion if you are on Netflix skip this film and watch Amber Alert not a perfect film but it will keep your attention.

Another straight to video movie that's fixated on smoking in lieu of a script. I was unable to finish it. If I write the requisite five lines for this review to be accept than the review will be more complex than the actual script for the movie. Seriously, this one very stupid movie, the characters are absurd, the acting is wooden because the actors are embarrassed by their lines, and I may cancel my Netflix subscription.

I normally read the IMDb score for movies before watching them but I decided to give this one a shot based off the description alone (i have a penchant for movies based on the themes of criminology and serial killers) instantly I became engulfed in the storyline and the backstory of the main character, it emotionally took me through a journey and i was stuck to the screen the entire time. I genuinely think this was one of the best movies I've seen in 2017! It was like a mash up of two of my favourite movies the Green Mile and Shawshank redemption! Worth watching!!

Other than the hot actors and actresses... the movie is just bad. They show some disgusting scenes. The acting is bad. The dialogue is cliché and amateur. The characters are one-dimensional except for one lawyer and one crook.

The story doesn't know what to do, except it is like as if a woman writer wrote a novella about a sexy bad-boy criminal who does horrible things but justifiably, and so the sexy psychologist falls in love with him.

They try to make a scene reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs, except it's horrible and cheesy. Then they lavish on the disgusting political message and bash you over the head with it: violence bad... and "stop perpetuating the cycle"... but it provides ZERO justifications for it. Other than the sexy psychologist's lust for a sexy criminal (perpetuating the stereotype of going after bad boys).

And the criminal on death row, is not even much of a criminal. He does crimes but it's all not his fault. Like as if evil doesn't exist. Or bad people don't exist. Or it's the "system" causing it.

So it's like a collaborative movie written by a girl who likes bad boys, and a hippie who hates the system... man...

Dr. Amanda Tyler (Denise Richards) lectures on the cycle of violence in America. She is requested by the governor of the state of Texas to examine a case of a man on death row for an assessment for a possible stay of execution. Yea, Texas, sure.

The film is a flashback to the life of Jackson Shay, the man on death row. Jackson was an abused child and then once incarcerated became entrenched in crime. His story is remarkable, like everyone in prison they are either innocent or were justified in their actions...at least in their own mind. The film is apparently against the death penalty. Amanda wears red, the same color as Jackson's prison suit. We see them both through cage bars giving us the impression we are all in cages and violence sets us free.

2 stars because I am crushing on Denise Richards.

Guide: F-word. Sex. Prison rape. Make butt nudity.

Everything about this movie was awful. The worst acting. The script made me cringe. Even the makeup on the actors was bad. Just hard to watch all the way around.

I am sick of these "theatrical" reviews. This movie is a true in sight of human nature makes a criminal, the powerful message here is the story from boy to death row what made this man a criminal. With that being said, if your intelligent enough to see the true message than I am open to discuss whether it is a great message or not story. However, if your into blockbuster movies that service the mass follower the leader game play, than don't bother. Nor would I impose on the Ebert style of viewing a movie because his power of suggestion for what you should like pov then don't watch it, his followers are of the same caliber. Not saying all blockbusters are bad majority are visual entertainment and for me a great back scene watch while playing words with friends. Very few are at intellect level with exception of some Spielberg and Cameron films that are long awaited for because of their depth, screen play and visualization to capitalize all audiences. So for you few who have the rare quality to see pass imperfections of style casting or whatever "critic"slicing written above then this movie is for you.

I just watched this on Netflix and never heard of it before. It was a great story and the characters were strong! My ONLY complaint - blonde women do NOT have black eyebrows. Other than that - it was very well acted! Imagine being in this man's shoes...would you do that same? I would.

Gave it a four as this seems to be the IMDb average. The subject matter is of course important but I am not against the death penalty after all it is meted out by nearly all those who have been sentenced to it. I care not about how civilised a nation feels it is. It is hogwash to care about putting a killer/rapist or whatever to death while bombing weddings in the Middle East. Of course I know they are not all weddings or baby milk factories as in Iraq. Jesus just how much milk was being made there. Did none of them breast feed? Must have thought they were too posh, but in principle those bombing do take out relatively non involved people and as no war is in play that has to be murder. At some level anyway.

A capital punishment film I did enjoy with its twisting plot was the one with Kevin Spacey. The Life of David Gale. Now this had the story about WRONGFUL executions. We in the UK are very aware today about that.In the Christie murders case a man called Evans was hung on the evidence provided by Christie himself. Caught 31 March 1953 executed 15 July 1953 shows that we did not muck around for long. But of course the crocodile tear brigade that loves God Guns and bombing weddings would wish to preserve such lives. Disposing of the trash in society does not diminish real humanity. It does take the bread out of the hard working legal workers and the parasitical hangers on who are paid to make sure that apprehended criminals live lives better than innocent and elderly beings. They do not even see the irony of their good works. The other main movie along the death penalty lines of late was Gene Hackman in The Chamber. Now of course I can not defend the actions of the murdering KKK but I would suggest that most liberals who abhor the notion of the death penalty will be the same colour as the KKK. I would go as far as t suggest that they and the White Supremacists 'same thing' have no place on the Earth that the god fearing 'well the paying lip service anyway' feel was made for the MEEK. I have been put off the idea of watching this. The reviews do help. I have not seen a lower graded film that might have been many points higher and I tend to enjoy what is offered if the attempt has been made to entertain.

From a flagrant starting to the fervent climax, this masterpiece travels a trajectory replete with gorier tales of crimes and tell us about the gnarly issue of deliverane of justice in a violent society.