Todesspiele

'The Young Americans' was made in the 90s - a quite routine thriller story about an American cop sent to London to follow a drug baron. The theme of cops in foreign territory was largely dealt with before and after this movie, and allowed for some good films to be made. Detective stories, and stories about detectives are a good ground to present culture clash in the context of tense situations. Not here, where the only difference is in the hard spoken accents of the characters, and no real tension or relationship develops around the main character or with respect to his Brit counterparts. Some good acting from Harvey Keitel and the two young actors trying to describe a pure relationship in the trash of the underground world cannot save the day in this rather boring movie, where nothing special happens, not more than in an average BBC police drama.

I am a tad biased here when writing regarding this film, because I live in London myself.

I thought that TYA lacked a little in as far as character depth, but never the less I thought the acting was slick and to the point. The photography in this flick really captures parts of London that are rarely seen on film. The underground. The rave at the beginning. The market seen where christian is collecting his wages are so familiar. Keitel again was very good. I especially liked the way he acted around the London police - cool, calm with lack of visual emotion. I guess that at present TYA is quite ironic in some ways as london police are using NY methods to battle crime.

I liked this film alot, and would give it an eight out of ten based on photography, soundtrack and a cool storyline,

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".

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.

When THE YOUNG AMERICANS was released it was marketed as a cool , tough British thriller . But after watching it the reality is that it`s average at best and is disappointing in many ways , especially its casting , Harvey Keitel as a tough NY cop , Keith Allen as a violent London gangster , wow get ready for some on screen fireworks ! Or rather don`t because these two characters become sidelined halfway through and Chris O`Neill becomes the film`s focus . In truth THE YOUNG AMERICANS is more of a drama with some subtle political comment about the Americanisation of Britain rather than a tough action thriller as it was marketed