American Animals

Glad I stuck with this. The unique filmmaking style of Bart Layton can take a little to get used to. If you enjoyed his documentary The Imposter, then you'll probably love this.

American Animals rides that documentary-drama combination to full effect. The ratio here is probably more drama to documentary, unlike the reverse of The Imposter - which this really echoed.

Has to have the best soundtrack of any film I've seen in ages. Can't believe this thing was a true story. The "where are they now" segment at the end was interesting. I feel like we all experience some of the emotions and feelings in life that these guys did - which lead to their heist.

If you're after a crime film that's quite different - then check this out.

This is an interesting movie to write a review for. I didn't love it but wow is it incredibly put together and I super appreciate the style and choices they made here. American Animals isn't a typically structured movie. Rather than being a standard procession of events portrayed by the actors it flits back and forth between the portrayals and the testimonial narrative of the actual people this is about. The way it plays with that idea of their retelling of the events and how their varied perspectives sometimes play with the portrayal we're given is a fascinating experience and one that I will likely go back to in the future.

Yeah, I think that's where I really come down on this. I want to love this movie because of how much I'm fascinated by the way it chose to tell it's story but it just didn't click with me, which is disappointing. It's just slightly off for some reason for me and I think it's because that style is so cool and the rest of the movie just didn't live up to it for me. Even though the performances were solid, it just didn't stick the landing perfectly. I still think this is worth checking out for most people, if only for the experience of a different kind of movie.

True story this, though the quartet of perpetrators of the most audacious literary crime have trouble keeping their story straight. That's part of the fun in recreating a 2004 Kentucky teenage heist: having the now grown ups involved, recount the events, separated by distance from each other, and time from the deed.

"American Animals" seems too goofy for fact, but as usual, fiction loses out in the strange category. Spencer, Warren, Eric and Chas, (yes Chas), are privileged white boys getting their feet wet at University, itching for the action adult life has promised, which of course, is lacking.

Solution: robbery! Seems the campus library has a twelve million dollar book, and the only obstacle is an elderly librarian. Seeing their fair share of heist movies, the greedy group hatch an elaborate plan to snatch a big bird book from the poorly guarded nest. Convoluted schematics are drawn up. Maquettes are constructed. Ridiculous disguises are made. This is the thrill of their lives, and makes for irresistible film.

Evan Peters as the excitable and sketchy Warren, owns his delicious role, especially when steering the reluctant dreamer Spencer (Barry Keoghan) to the point of no return. Even better are their real counterparts, as they contemplate on the events, and each other, fourteens years on. It's an ingenious bit of movie magic, that could not have been scripted better.

Now here is one of the most unique films of 2018, both in the story itself and the way Bart Layton tells said story. The fact that they used the real life people for each of the four main characters to help propel the story forward in a documentary-style fashion is absolutely brilliant, and even hilarious at times. Unlike their real-life counterparts, these four actors seem to have a really great future, each having their own share of scenes to steal. Unsurprisingly, Barry Keoghan was the clear standpoint, constantly bordering the line of unsettlingly charismatic and offputting. Which, for a movie like this, is basically perfect. A certain part of me watching this kept going, are these kids complete idiots? Some of the things they decide to do and how they go about doing them are just mind-bendingly stupid, but the way these characters act create a definite believability in some regard. But undoubtedly, American Animals is one of the strangest and most interesting films of 2018.

7.6/10

Came to this without knowing the story, but having seen The Imposter, it's impressive seeing this director's confident next step. I loved the combination of documentary style with heist movie, characters overlapping and switching in and out of styles and scenes. Evan's energy is frenetic and he seems to really enjoy the role and the supporting cast are great. It's sure to be a cult hit, with a great soundtrack and some very tense and awkward moments that make you cower and cringe at the mistakes and situations these guys got themselves into. It does begger belief its a true story, that these guys pushed themselves over that line, thus changing their lives forever. However, the fact that it is entertaining does not belie the seriousness and sadness that also comes through more by the use of the documentary elements and interviews with the guys and their families, and the librarian. Although it doesn't ever really answer why they all did it, or why they really thought it would be worth it, why they could justify one element in particular, money aside, with any conviction, or maybe that's because it doesn't relate 100% to its audience, though we can still watch with mouths open and it has certainly stayed with me and will definitely recommend a viewing.