The Last Days of American Crime (2020)
Violent Ballet
Who Are the Real Criminals?
Ashes in Water
NETFLIX’s latest turn on filling this year’s movie void is loud, violent, sometimes clever, and way too long.
The Last Days of American Crime, based on a graphic novel by Rick Remender (Deadly Class), is one part dystopian (near) future and three parts heist film, with a little (more subtle than heavy handed) political commentary sprinkled in.
The premise is that the U.S. government has developed a mind control technology that will makes it impossible for people to knowingly commit crimes. As the date of activation approaches, protestors take to the streets, police are laid off, amnesty is offered white collar criminals, and a handful of street criminals, including Bricke (Edgar Ramirez), hackerish femme fatale Shelby (Anna Brewster), and Cash (Michael Pitt - Hannibal), the son of a local crime boss, decide to try one last job.
Some of the best things in this movie are left undeveloped. While the idea of a machine that turns off criminal thoughts may sound (to some) attractive, the fine print is pretty spooky. According to the film, it is not based on the morality of an action - just whether a person knows there is a law prohibiting it. The implication is that the powers that be could write any law they wanted and as long as it was publicized, people would be mind shocked into compliance. Because most crimes begin with an idea, it also flirts with the notion of thought crimes and one is left wondering if we aren’t really seeing a prequel to 1984.
One thing that is not underdeveloped is the violence in The Last Days. It is often more implied than graphic, but it is pretty brutal and can be numbing after a while.
Before issuing a final verdict, we do want to swing the strobe light to the best and worst things in this movie.
The best by far is the performance of Michael Pitt. His Cash is funny, a clear sociopath, and absolutely captivating. He stole every scene he was in.
The worst part is that while there was plenty of good in this movie, it was way too long. Two and a half hours isn’t horrible - Django Unchained clocked in at 2:45 and was great - but the shooting, explosions, and riot scenes tended to get repetitious. Our overall score for this would have gone up at least a star if they chopped off a half hour.
You can check out The Last Days of American Crime in its full two and a half hour glory HERE on NETFLIX.
Two out of Five Evil Government Thought Control Towers.
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