Animal

This a real movie about thug life and the inescapable revolving door trap that is so hard to break. Ving Rhames plays the animal which is not an accurate name for his character ,since his character is no different than a mob boss or a drug cartel kingpin.... this is how you have to be to survive on the streets.. excellent acting by Jim Brown who in real life is a PEACE ACTIVIST.. Ving Rhames does an excellent performance ,, who i think is worthy of an academy award nomination....Chazz Palminteri also performed well as a supporting actor.... this is a must see movie for Kids going down the wrong path in life,, since it shows the consequences of a leading a violent lifestyle....

When the violent gangster James "Animal" Allen (Ving Rahmes) is arrested and sent to prison, his teenage son Darius (Terrence Howard) is left with his mother, but she is assassinated and the boy is raised alone on the streets, becoming a criminal. While in the corrupt prison, Animal works for the powerful prisoner Kassada (Chazz Palminteri), but when he meets the revolutionary Berwell (Jim Brown), his view of life changes. Animal is released on probation and tries to have a straight life, but his past and his fame haunt him, while he sees that Darius is following his path in a criminal life.

"Animal" is a good movie, but the story has no surprises, showing the difficulties of a middle-age man that spent half of his life in jail to regenerate. His environment and his friends doom him to a low life. The cast is great and Ving Rhames has an amazing performance in a role tailored for him. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Animal"

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.

... rushed execution and obviously not a lot of production value(s). You could live with the latter, but the performances aren't the best either. Of course it's nice to see Ving Rhames in a lead role, but it'd be even better, if the script got sharpened too, so it would match his performance skills too.

The title of the movie gives you the main character and you also know, from the (V) behind the movies name here at IMDb, that it is directly produced for Video/DVD use. Terence Malick does elevate the movie too, but not as much as you'd think he would! The story (if you really want to know it before you watch it, read it here somewhere on the IMDb page) has been done before, so you might be used to see better movies, than this one on this particular topic ...