The Young Americans

You have to watch carefully, wearing ear protectors, to figure out that this film is about a bloody war waged by "young american" drug lords against the old hands in London. There is an American DEA agent to "advise" the London bobbies, but he isn't young. He does have an agenda of his own, but it emerges only obscurely, as does everything else, except the noise. Even the dialog is all but incomprehensible. It's a strange way to tell a story. The editing is of a piece with the rest of the treatment. Confusing. There are pluses, though. The camera work is innovative and often beautiful images emerge from the general murk. The cast, apart from Keitel, were largely unknown to me, but they were mostly first rate at limning the many characters in the London underworld. Many were also uncredited, strange in an era when the post credits usually scroll for at least 7 minutes.

Well, it wasn't that bad of a film. Having collected a dozen or so London crime dramas I must admit while this one had some flaws (low budget)it quite well fits into the genre of the Classic British Crime Drama. The violence and paranoia of the gang leaders, including the American (when he hurts the young women at the party) captures the character of these types (as far as the scene in concerned). I thought the acting was good, the camera work was also interesting and the film kept moving forward to the climax which was still unknown 5 minutes before it took place. The scene with the wedding of Chris's father, where he is drunk and is overheard by the "goon" who immediately "rats" him out was well done. The scenes of the seedier sides of London was also well photographed, the smoke, grim, and age. All in all it was worth watching if you are not expecting something "great" like "Get Carter" or "Snatch".

Youth crime and drugs are rife in London. Scotland Yard call in an advisor from the DEA because they believe a new force is in play within the underworld. Harris arrives in London to find nothing different from the LA he just left and begins to make links with Chris who seems to offer the only way into the gangs.

The story may not be anything to write home about, but this film was a good introduction to the ability (if questionable script judgement) of Danny Cannon. The story makes a lot of leaps as Harris tries to shut down the American influence in the drug game. However many subplots are weak or totally incidental and just seem there to make up the time. The main story itself is a little too glossy and is a times just an excuse for Cannon's direction.

Cannon directs well here – London looks good, whether it's the dark alleys or the sun setting over the cityscape. He can't really work well with character but he can do visuals pretty well.

Another reviewer has commented on the `unknown' cast – however there are no more `unknowns' in this than in anything else. Keitel is good despite having the whole family subplot that he clearly doesn't know what to do with and he doesn't do as much with his exploitation of Chris as he could have – but he's always watchable. Kelly is good as the young Chris – but the emotion towards the end is a little beyond him. The rest of the cast is fully of unknowns is it? Thandie Newton? Viggo Mortensen? Keith Allen? A host of faces from British TV and films? All are pretty good although some have more to do than others.

Overall the plot may not be totally together but a good strong lead by Keitel and a good bit of direction by Cannon makes this feel better than it actually is.

Violent organized crime is overwhelming the ill-prepared London police. Bodies are piling up. American Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen) has recruited young men to be violent ruthless thugs. American cop John Harris (Harvey Keitel) arrives to assist the police in catching the bad guys.

Harvey Keitel is great. Viggo isn't in this enough. There are some good British actors. Thandie Newton plays the girlfriend role. The movie relies on some unknown kids, mostly Craig Kelly. He's a blank fresh-faced newbie. He can't be the leading man in this movie and yet he is. It leaves the movie a bit scattered and hollow in the center. The intensity isn't really up to American standards. This is function TV crime drama... sorta.

There's a couple of stories (possibly apocryphal) about how Cannon's career was launched, one story is that respected film Director Alan Parker, saw a short film he made on a BBC amateur film-making programme and, impressed with what he saw, immediately phoned the BBC so he could get in touch with Cannon - which he apparently did, Parker then supposedly recommended him to a prestigious film school...

The other story is that Danny Cannon's father is a top studio executive and that nepotism was the way he started.

Either way, Cannon's debut film was an interesting little movie with big aspirations - at the time British films tended to be almost always socio-political, so-called worthy films, usually about the social underclass - remember this was 1993 and just before Richard Curtis invented the Britsh Rom-Com...

What the film lacks in terms of story (Cannon was Co-Writer) it makes up for in sheer film-making skill - The Young Americans is a beautiful-looking movie.

It's a film that belies it's VERY low-budget, and looks like a much more expensive piece.

Danny Cannon displays an almost Ridley Scott like style in the care he takes with the look of the film, and the careful, unhurried pacing, he is aided in his efforts by excellent Anamorphic 2.35:1 photography from D.P. Vernon Layton - giving The Young Americans a rich, almost sumptuous look, for what, on the surface, is a gritty urban crime thriller.

A special mention should be made for Composer David Arnold and his beautiful, almost tragic Music Score - of course he went on to bigger things: Stargate, Independence Day, the Bond movies - Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, plus Zoolander, Changing Lanes, The Stepford Wives and the upcoming Ghost Rider, and another Bond - Casino Royale.

Personally, I thought Danny Cannon's career might have amounted to something more substantial that just 3 feature films.

These films include the badly mis-judged(!) Stallone vehicle Judge Dredd and the horror sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - not sure how the latter film fared at the box-office (though I suspect not good!)

I DO know that Judge Dredd was a BIG financial and critical failure - Cannon got the film right after The Young Americans, tiny budget to mega budget - could this be a case of Cannon running before he could walk?

Of course Danny Cannon has found considerable success as an Executive/Supervising Producer, occasional Writer and sometimes Director on the 3 hit CSI TV series from Jerry Bruckhiemer - this in itself is no mean feat, but I do feel Cannon's potential as a Director of Feature Films has gone largely untapped and that he could have made a more substantial career if he'd stayed in Movies.

Hear he's got a Soccer movie in the works, let's hopes that this is a return to features for an underrated and talented Director.

Lata.