Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

American Violence Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 18, 2017

Is the United States an inherently violent culture or are we simply the victims (literally and figuratively) of bad luck? It’s a provocative question, and one which provided fodder for the exploitation documentary The Killing of America. American Violence wants to examine some of the same tendencies as that now long ago documentary, but in a fictionalized and increasingly improbable way, an approach which undercuts its none too subtle message that killing is bad, even when it’s a societally condoned execution. The film begins with a rather shocking sequence detailing a nasty old man (played by Bruce Dern) who is berating his wife for not making his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches correctly. The wife commendably isn’t taking the old guy’s guff, but suddenly a man bursts into the home and viciously stabs the old guy—repeatedly. If American Violence were a television show, this would be the pre-credits tease.

The film then segues to one of those college lectures that offers a screenwriter a handy way to get tons of screed like exposition out of the way in a seemingly organic way (hint to future screenwriters: it doesn’t work). In this case, noted psychologist Dr. Amanda Tyler (Denise Richards) is telling her class about a long ago case where a juvenile was given a light sentence after having brutally murdered two people, a sentence deemed appropriate because of the offender’s young age. When this guy was paroled, he turned around and decapitated a little girl, thereby providing Tyler a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with the American justice system (the fact that this "perp" has decapitated a little girl and kept her head in his car trunk is perhaps one of the first clues, along with the film's opening scene, that scenarist Al Lamanda is not going to offer a lot of subtleties along the way).

Tyler’s talk to her students is interrupted by a nattily dressed black man who offers a counter argument, and who then identifies himself as Assistant District Attorney Ben Woods (Columbus Short). Woods asks Tyler to review the case file of an inmate named Jackson Shea (Kywie Lyman- Mersereau), who it should come as no surprise was the knife wielding attacker seen in the film’s opening sequence. Shea is slated for execution in a couple of days, but the governor is evidently under some kind of improbable pressure to review Shea’s potential execution, in one of those convenient plot points that make no sense other than to provide a supposed motivating factor going forward. Tyler takes the case file home, where another kind of ridiculous “reveal” (courtesy of an old newspaper seen in a desk drawer) details that she’s the widow of a slain police officer, and that she argued for the death penalty of her husband’s killer back in the day. Well, all righty then—character backstory sufficiently filled in.

Suffice it to say Tyler does agree to interview Shea, provided her patently absurd conditions (which won’t be detailed here) are met. That sets up the bulk of the film, wherein Tyler and Shea have a contentious tête-à-tête which in turn leads to series of supposedly revelatory flashbacks detailing how Shea came to this sorry state of affairs. There’s some really interesting and even provocative baseline material in American Violence, but Lamanda’s screenplay is simply too obvious in its anti death penalty leanings to ever build its case convincingly. The most salient example in this regard (and actually examples, given how many people Shea kills in this film) is that many, maybe even most, of Shea’s victims are horrible people themselves and probably deserve their fates. The film would have had a more realistic (and dare I say ambiguous) ambience had Shea been a morally bankrupt murderer who simply takes out innocent bystanders. But the character is repeatedly depicted as a kind of avenging angel instead of a ruthless, heartless criminal.

American Violence is so confusingly written and edited that some flashback material is completely illogical and other elements, like the opening scene (which turns out to be about a nefarious warden played by Dern), may or may not have actually happened (I’m frankly still unsure on that point). There are occasional bright moments of relatively smart dialogue, but they’re buried beneath a morass of otherwise pretentious interchanges that would be funny if the subject matter weren’t so serious. Football fans may want to check this out, despite its obvious shortcomings, since a certain Rob Gronkowski shows up in a bit part. Even Gronk’s inherent charisma isn’t enough to save this potentially interesting enterprise, however.

American Violence Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Violence is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The closing credits state the film was captured with Alexa cameras, and the result is the typically very sharp and precise looking detail levels that this technology typically offers. That said, there are also recurrent deficits in the many dimly lit scenes, including a lot within the prison environment, with regard to shadow detail. The film has commendably not been overly aggressively color graded, though there is a tendency toward yellow in several sequences and couple of uses of the ever trendy blue tones. The film really pops quite well during some flashback sequences when it gets out into the bright sunshine, but a lot of the film is intentionally drab and dreary looking and as a result the palette doesn't pop overly well, though detail levels tend to be well above average.

American Violence Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Violence features an intermittently robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. I say with only a touch of tongue being firmly in cheek that some of the most forceful surround activity comes courtesy of the Status Media and Entertainment banner that the Blu-ray boots to, which features a glut of what sounds like machine gun fire echoing through the side and rear channels. There is some good use of ambient environmental sounds, at least when the film ventures out of the prison environment, including a kind of whistling wind that wafts through the surround channels as the actual film begins. While dialogue is always presented cleanly, the film has mixed Andrew Joslyn's string drenched score way too high for my personal taste, to the point that it simply overpowers rather than supports certain key scenes (pay attention during the scene when Shea's mother finds out he's been abused for a particularly apt example).

American Violence Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• American Violence: Behind the Music (1080p; 7:28) features an interesting interview and studio tour with composer Andrew Joslyn.


• Becoming a Killer: The Making of American Violence (1080p; 15:07) is more standard EPK fare, with interviews interspersed with scenes from the film.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:12)

American Violence Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's no doubt a meaningful film to be made about capital punishment, that is of course if one doesn't already feel offerings like Dead Man Walking haven't already filled that particular bill. One way or the other, American Violence is not that film. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.