Customer Reviews

Animal

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Animal is a very intense and dramatic film with an all star African-American cast. Ving Rhames stars in the film as a man named Animal. He basically spent his entire adult life in prison leaving his young son to grow up without a father---and a mother. Darius (Terrance Howard/Hustle and Flow) is raised by his grandmother and turns to hustling as a means of income. Darius has no problem cursing around his grandmother and he just appears to be a common neighborhood thug and he has no problem putting a hot slug in someone. Animal is in jail and can't help his family much while he is on the inside. Jim Brown stars in the film as a revolutionary who attempts to talk some sense into the barbaric and ignorant Animal.

There were a lot of really great African-American actors in this film (Terrance Howard, Taraj Henson, Jim Brown, Ving Rhames, Paula Jai Parker, and Faizon Love), but it pretty much has gone under the radar and hasn't generated much buzz. It's a pretty sad film, it is along the lines of movies like Boyz In The Hood, South Central, Juice, Menace II Society, and Civil Brand. It's an interesting film.

I live in the inner city, and am sometimes uncomfortable with what I see our youths values has become. Common curiosities, values, graciousness and morals seem to be a thing of the past. Family values are non existent, family is non existent, children are left to raise themselves, and their lessons on life values have now become street smarts. This movie "Animal" reaches all the impurities that we see in today's society. Hopefully one day the cycle will break.

I only bought this dvd b/c of that whole Willie Lynch myth the whole concept is awesome if it were really true

solid. the message is true, but it's not just one man named Lynch, it's an infantesimally few and varied individuals who propagate junk so the mass majority never become aware of what each and everyone is doing to each other. get beyond the senseless service most do for these infantesimal few - and wake up to helping and overcoming. it's a mind game manipulation being played by the few. and even they are being deceived

Yes, it's true Animal feels like a slightly low budget action film with some cheesy dialogue occupying the majority of the storyline, but for the most part, I'm impressed with the characters, the suspense, the action, and of course, the storytelling.

A father commits a crime and has to go away to jail. When he's finally released several years later, lots of things have changed by that point involving his family, and specifically his younger son who had to grow up without a father.

Well when the father finally returns home, everything seems fine at first, but eventually family issues come into the picture and everything goes wrong from there. I don't want to spoil the things that happen though, since that would spoil the storyline for you, the readers.

Anyway, the actual "animal" segments (the parts where the father plays a vicious fighter in jail who isn't afraid of anyone) wasn't utilized enough to give the movie its name in my opinion, so in that small respect, the storyline has some disappointing segments.

Also, Animal isn't straight-up action packed- instead, there's plenty of storyline building slowly and interestingly to the action segments, which actually helps us appreciate the violent scenes when they finally occur that much more.

Still, the focal point should be what occurs as soon as the father is released, and of course the very beginning of the film when you see why the father is in jail to begin with.

I have a soft spot for movies like these- whatever people think of the storytelling and the acting skills involving all the characters (I personally am not bothered in the least by either of these) the fact remains I remained interested in Animal from beginning to end, so that's why I feel like it deserves 5 stars.

It is true that this is an of-told tale regarding the evils of life in the "hood", but, it is another interesting interpretation of the ghetto plite. This one is based on the Willie Lynch papers that gave slave owners a program for controlling slaves that many people believe is the foundatiion for the self hatred and destruction that exists today in those communities. It is also about the relationship between fathers and sons, literal and figurative, that perpetuate self destruction. The acting is impeccable, especially Terrance Howard as the adult son, a man-child still searching for his father's love and approval. Despite the previous review, this is a very worthwhile movie.

Once again, here comes another stinker starring Terrance Howard. Was he behind on the mortgage or what? Terrance Howard and Ving Rhames are too talented for this. The thug gone straight routine is getting kind of monotonous. Why can't writers come up with something more original. With the downright horrible storyline and camcorder-like film, no wonder this mess went straight to DVD!!

Let me start out by saying that this movie had me locked all the way through. I was never bored and I thought the performances were well done. But the thing that made the movie a four star movie for me AT FIRST was the Willie Lynch lesson I got from it. Being an African American (by the way, how come we're the only Americans required to state our mother land before American. But anyway) I felt something bitter inside of me stirring at the thought of some master plan laid out long ago to control my community. But of course once the movie was over I did some research. It didn't take long for the movie to drop down to two stars... better yet, MAKE THAT ONE STAR, VING! For those of you looking to blame some stupid white guy for the current plight of the black community, I got some bad news for ya... WILLIE LYNCH NEVER EXISTED AND NEITHER DID HIS LETTERS UNTIL THE EARLY 1990's and only on the internet! Shame on you, Ving, for such an obvious lack of effort seperating historical fact from urban legend. Black people, you can go on back to fighting each other now. We'll just have to figure out why later. Maybe when one of the other races of the world figure out why they fight with each other, perhaps we can learn from them.