Search - Heart of America on DVD

Poorly

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 06/01/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"HEART OF AMERICA is a Uwe Boll picture that's based on the Columbine High School shootings. Poorly conceived, poorly shot, poorly acted, poorly scripted, poorly edited, it's classic Boll. This German-born perennial "Razzie" winner perhaps can no longer pass his stink in Germany, so now he targets American subjects. Not a wise move.


On this last school day before summer recess, the murders to come have been previously set in motion when a group of athletes humiliate the wrong three kids. Before the actual assault however, we're distracted with the behavior of faculty (good or bad) and the personal lives of other students soon to be innocent victims, who were in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

B&W flashbacks, an attempt to create suspense by not immediately revealing who the final shooter will be and a narrated lltany of real-llfe school attacks, absolutely nothing seems to work here.

BTW, don't bother with ELEPHANT (2002), either. As with this botched effort, there's ultimately no lessons learned from it, no message beyond how truly random life is, and how easily it can end in sudden violence. Both are a total downer.

Finally, as to Uwe Boll, I'd rather watch a movie directed by Manute Boll. He surely could do no worse.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(4.1) Heart of America (Canada/Germany-2002) - Jürgen Prochnow/Michael Pare/Patrick Muldoon/Maria Conchita Alonso/Clint Howard"