I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses..............
I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses..............
Member since:17.10.2005
Reviews:11
Members who trust:3
Ok so when I first saw this film I hadn’t read the book or heard of the film before. I've decided to review the book separately as I thought they were really quite different.
Bale plays the said Psycho - Patrick Bateman a man obsessed with all of the things that was bad about the 1980's. Money and status is everything. Whether it’s having a better apartment or suit than your friends, right down to who has the classiest looking business card. Eggshell? Ivory? Embossed? All of these details are crucial to Bateman and to a lesser extent, to his peers too.
That's the premise for the film. Status is everything, the sadistic way he murders his victims doesn’t really matter. Bateman works on Wall Street and is extremely frustrated that he doesn’t really stand out from anyone else in his social circle. They are all eating in the same places, going to the same clubs and snorting copious amounts of Coke. In fact, the only way he can show that he is better than the numerous other people living the exact same life
as him IS to have the better business card, or suit, or cd collection. Oh and obviously the murders and executions make him slightly different too. This is Bateman's dilemma, if only he know about his 'other' life then is doesn't count does it? Only the opinion of others matters.
Throughout the film we see Bateman become more and more obsessive about these status symbols and more and more sloppy in covering up for himself (subconsciously trying to get caught?) to the extent that at one point he chases one of his victims down the stairs in his apartment block with a chainsaw.
There is no real explanation why Bateman behaves the way he does - he just does. But it doesn’t need explaining, this isn’t a film about why people are driven to such things or explaining what is wrong with the world. It's not even a film about a frightening crazy killer. As much as Bateman tortures people or beats people to death he isn’t the bad guy. In fact in some ways he's the hero, I found it quite difficult not to like him. This may be what some people struggle with. Yes his behaviour is horrendously violent and the film makes no apologies for that BUT there is still part of you that doesn't want Bateman to get caught.
The rest of the characters don’t really matter that much, its just people Bateman has sex with (who you think he will probably kill), people he works with (who you think he will probably kill) and people he competes with (who you think he will probably kill). The only person who doesn’t fit into any of these categories is Willem Dafoe who plays Detective Kimball. Again though he is merely an extra, the film isn’t about his quest for justice, it’s about exactly how much Bateman is going to get away with and the viewer wanting to know if we are ever going to find out a reason for what he is doing. We don’t.
I really think people will either love or hate this film. There are no other films quite like it and I think it gets away with the often gruesome violence because the murders just don’t seem to matter too much to the lead character – so why would they matter to us? Christian Bale is AMAZING as Bateman. This was the first film I saw him in as an adult ( took me a while to realise he was the lead role in Empire of The Sun) and I thought that he was so good as Bateman that he probably wouldn’t be particularly good in any other role, thankfully I’ve since changed this opinion. Bale makes the film; this film could so easily have gone the other way and been terrible with another actor in the lead role. There are some darkly funny parts, the ‘murders and executions’ line gets me every time and its difficult not to laugh at how detached he is when watching himself pose in the mirror during sex.
One final thing that I feel I have to mention is the soundtrack. Now I’m a big fan of rubbish 80’s music but even if you’re not, it’s difficult not to be impressed by the use of light-hearted pop songs by the likes of Genesis as the soundtrack to such dark material. Some would argue that listening to lots of 80’s music WOULD obviously make you psychotic but I’m not one of those people!
The violence may be too much for some and others may find the obsession for materialistic things too boring but I think this film is genius, even if it is an acquired taste. At least at the end of the film we can all reassure ourselves that at least we aren’t as materialistic as we were in the 80’s even if none of us really believe it!
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Brett Easton Ellis established a reputation as theenfant terribleof American fiction in ... more
the 1980s with his controversial novelLess than Zero, but with the publication ofAmerican Psychohe became established as one of the most notorious and reviled novel...
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Advantages: A nice critical stab at the greed and shallowness that was the 1980's Disadvantages: Nowhere near as detailed and as enjoyable as the book was, and the ending was a bit unclear
Slim_Lee 06.03.2001 (16.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of American Psycho (DVD)
Advantages: Christian Bale is superb, film full of suspense and humour within well worked violent scenes. Disadvantages: Apparentely not as true to the book as many would have liked. Horrible 80's soundtrack.
Mercury 23.01.2001 (24.01.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of American Psycho (DVD)
Advantages: Something to watch (and pick holes in) when you're bored Disadvantages: Horror/comedy doesn't work, no depth to the plot, predictable, unbelievable
![American Psycho [2000] [VHS]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/83952334.jpg "American Psycho [2000] [VHS]")
Oct 22nd, 2005
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