Animal - Il criminale

I just saw a screening of this one. I was very happy with how the movie was. I love prison movies and love seeing how they live. Ving Rhames plays The Animal (James) a gangster who kills just for fun and ends up in prison for armed robbery and attempted murder. His son grows up to be just like his father. The Animal is a strong and true story about one man's choice and to have the guts to take it.

I liked this movie. I am a Ving Rhames fan and he did it again. If you like Ving Rhames and like prison movies and gangster movies I think you will like this one.

8/10 Stars in my book

This movie touched on many areas of hood mentality that Black men (young and older) go through when trying to desperately get money the wrong way. Also,the Native American actor made me think about the effects of "assimilation" and thrown into a a ghetto designed by racism.

This is the story of a man nick named Animal. Baddest of the bad, Animal was the head of a crew in ghetto neighborhood he lived in. One day he's arrested and sent to jail leaving behind a wife and child. While in jail for years he continues his violent ways, at the same time his son takes after his old man and becomes known as "Little Animal". With the help of a fellow prisoner Animal changes his way and is eventually paroled. Back at home he now must struggle with carving a out a new life while trying to figure out out how to save his son from ending up like him, or worse.

I stumbled upon this film by accident and I'm glad I did. Animal is a brutal, heartfelt look at life in the "hood", how nothing ever changes, and what it takes to change things. Its a well told story that has some of the best performances of the year in any film. Every one in this movie is excellent from Ving Rhames on down. The acting alone is reason enough to see this film, however there is a very real story being told. It will move you and break your heart.

Forgive me I finished the film not long ago and I still feel the effects of this wonderful movie.Its left me with a loss of words. I think all I can really say is see this film and be moved too.

"Animal" is much better than it's rating here... It's a powerful piece of work. The best thing about it are the great performances by Ving Rhames and Terrence Howard, including a nice support role by football legend Jim Brown. It's true, the production values here are very low, but in terms of story and especially the acting, it's a great thing to watch. It does not rely on stereotypes, yet shows important scenes from living in the neighborhood, criminal life, and making choices. There is some violence in it, but it's not the central part of the movie. It's mostly about the development of the characters. I think that with a bigger budget "Animal" would've gotten a much higher critical response. I enjoyed it very much, I thought the script and story were quite decent, but the most impressive part was the powerful performances by two of the greatest African-American actors today - Award nominee Terrence Howard and of course Ving Rhames. I highly recommend this one, do not be fooled by the ratings.

Being my first time to watch Rhames in a lead role, I was impressed. Howard and Palminteri were brilliant and Studi, as always, was great!..though not the type of role he usually plays either. Great to see Jim brown after so long and I really liked his portrayal of Berwell. I'd like to see more of him in the future because despite his years, he still has a lot to offer. Listen up Hollywood! On the negative side (for fussy duds like me), we have the factual errors all-too-common in movies which mislead people on points of historical importance. I refer to the Willie Lynch Speech on slavery, which figures prominently in this movie. Berwell tells Animal that the term "lynching" is also attributed to the same author. Not true! This practice is more generally believed to be the invention of Captain William Lynch of Virginia, author of "Lynch's Law". As for Willie's speech, evidence now suggests it was written in the mid-to-late 20th century. Curious, no? Anyway, despite the foregoing, the movie has a good message and the overall acting is way better than good! Definitely a movie worth watching!