The Young Americans (1993) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:00hey guys welcome back to another cult movie review with me beau on the film scene investigation

00:20channel hope everyone out there is doing good thanks for checking out the video in today's

00:27review i'm going to be checking out the 1993 crime thriller the young americans before we get into

00:36it guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is

00:42greatly appreciated so the young americans from october 1993 was written and directed by the

00:52british filmmaker danny cannon marking his directorial debut the film starred actor harvey

01:00keitel with fanny newton and vigo mortensen supporting with its solid acting cast and the

01:09fact that i'd already heard the movie's soundtrack yeah i was intrigued to see what danny cannon could

01:15deliver so the film followed the los angeles dea detective john harris who was played by harvey

01:23cartel as he traveled to london to help support the metropolitan police with their ongoing

01:30investigations the crime numbers were growing no arrests were being made as the gangland activity

01:39in london continued to grow now it was believed that harvey was only there to help assist his fellow

01:48detectives but in actuality he'd been sent by the dea to track down a notorious american gangster

01:55carl fraser who was played by vigo mortensen fraser was this high profile american gangster who had a

02:06history with harris and thought by fleeing to london he'd never see him again we then saw two english

02:14detectives brian carver and lewis carnegie who took harris under their wing and gave him the lowdown

02:21on the latest murders that were going on harris already knew that fraser had been operating in that

02:29area and knew deep down that he was involved with the recent murders as the investigation continued

02:37we discovered that the english detectives carver and carnegie were actually on the take receiving

02:44bribes from fraser and his men the men were corrupt as hell taking bribes and openly turning a blind eye

02:55to the illegal activities fraser was involved with it was a ring of corruption that saw the

03:06authorities protecting the criminals for a fee and of course while this was indeed a work of fiction

03:15the whole bribery stuff really rings true to us in reality from small scale to large scale

03:25corruption is sadly everywhere in today's society from politics to the pharmaceutical companies

03:35greed runs deep in nearly all facets of society shockingly the two corrupt detectives would end up

03:46getting killed in a surprise car bomb attack outside of fraser's nightclub the officers had just been

03:54sitting there when suddenly this petrol bomb came flying through the windscreen the car immediately

04:01went up in flames as harris watched on in horror now this is actually one of the best scenes in the

04:09entire film and a very surprising moment that yeah i i didn't see coming i mean one minute they were just

04:17sitting there the next the next the two detectives were engulfed in flames and of course you have to ask

04:24yourself why exactly were these two corrupt cops murdered in the first place well it would seem to me

04:33that fraser felt that these two corrupt cops taking bribes were becoming a liability since they knew too much

04:42so with the help from his henchman fraser was able to eliminate the two cops and leave no connection

04:52trading back to him after the car bomb attack harris definitely became more determined to find fraser

05:01and put an end to his crimes and this is where the chris o'neill character came into the story

05:10chris who was played by actor craig kelly ended up helping harris after his best friend was stabbed

05:18inside fraser's nightclub chris knew that fraser and his men were dangerous and he wanted some revenge for

05:28what happened to his friend and you know it's fair to say that chris was initially reluctant but harris

05:36managed to talk him round chris went on to identify the two suspects that were involved in the car bomb

05:45attack and harris went on to arrest them but unsurprisingly the two suspects never talked they knew

05:55that if they kept their mouths shut the police would eventually have to release them which they did

06:02and so with the suspects not talking harris made chris wear a wire in an attempt to record some

06:13incriminating evidence against fraser the more evidence they had against fraser the more chance that

06:21he would receive a long sentence with fraser being such an elusive figure and such a hard man to track

06:31down harris put all of his hope into chris obtaining enough evidence the film would culminate in this

06:40bloody and violent scene at fraser's nightclub where we saw him take chris's girlfriend rachel hostage

06:49harris had successfully tracked down the whereabouts of fraser and had his whole club surrounded

06:56fraser spotted the squad cars outside waiting for him and attempted to escape but would get shot in the

07:04process and while this was an entertaining end to the film i did think it was somewhat predictable

07:15rachel being taken hostage the damsel in distress with the hero saving the day

07:24i don't know it all kind of felt a little bit paint by numbers i just could see everything play out you

07:31know it was just so obvious what was going to happen you know i'm not sure if there were budgetary

07:37constraints or something along those lines but i would have preferred a more exciting third act

07:45maybe you could have had the club be set on fire or maybe another car bomb attack i don't know

07:53just something a little bit more exciting than what we actually got as mentioned this movie

08:00featured a solid cast of actors including harvey cartel who was the standout in this film i enjoyed his

08:09performance as this middle-aged los angeles detective hanging out with the london police force

08:17but i must admit that while kytel's performance was good it wasn't exactly one of his strongest

08:29performances now i'm not saying that kytel phoned it in because he didn't and he's not an actor that

08:37usually does stuff like that anyway but i can't help but say that i've seen kytel do a lot better in

08:46other films i don't know i guess in some ways it's fair to say that the character of john harris

08:54wasn't necessarily a demanding one kytel's best scenes were when he was either interviewing or

09:03interrogating someone that allowed the actor to show off more of his charm and charisma vegan

09:11watterson did a good job with his character kyle fraser the notorious american gangster from the way he

09:20talked to the way he handled himself the character had this silent intensity about him and while from a

09:31distance you might not think that fraser was a dangerous man he definitely was not a guy that you'd

09:38want to mess with he was this american gangster puppeteering the disillusioned youth of london

09:48i didn't think that the character featured enough within the film now this may have been a case of

09:55director danny cannon using his villain sparingly but i just felt that we needed to see more of

10:05mortensen's character he was the big bad guy that everyone was trying to track down and while he was

10:12elusive i thought more scenes involving fraser were needed british actress anna keaveny also had a small

10:21role in the film playing chris's mother we saw her marry chris's father before fraser's men killed him

10:31now the actress is someone that i'm aware of having seen her in the british soap opera brookside she was

10:39very much known as a tv actress so seeing her pop up in a film with harvey kytel yeah i uh was kind of

10:49shocked it's a shame her role was so limited because having seen anna keaveny in brookside i mean

10:58she was a very good actress and when it came to the dramatics she could hold her own um given that

11:06i know what the actress could do it felt a bit like a wasted opportunity having her in such a limited

11:12role before we get into dislikes i have to take a moment and mention the brilliant song play dead by the

11:20singer bjork the song featured on her debut 1993 album and in my opinion is one of her best songs

11:31the video itself featured the singer bjork performed the song inside the actual nightclub that was used

11:39within the movie director danny cannon actually took the time out to direct the video for play dead

11:47and you can definitely tell given its film-like quality back in the day pre-social media one of

11:57the things i loved to do was just sit in front of the tv and watch music videos and this one from bjork

12:04play dead definitely always stuck out to me and so dislikes for the young americans from 1993

12:15my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the romantic subplot between chris and rachel

12:23so the actress dandy newton who played rachel was chris's love interest in the film as the situation

12:32around them worsened the two grew closer together supporting each other as the murders continued

12:41we saw several scenes that explored their relationship and one i did appreciate the character development

12:50i just felt that the whole love story kind of ruined the film's pace while there was no actual issue

12:58with the scenes from a technical standpoint i just felt that they were very kind of boring and didn't really

13:06go anywhere the more i saw of these two the more i became more disinterested within the film and

13:15i just wish the story had kind of focused more on fraser getting caught see there was nothing wrong with

13:24having a romantic subplot within the film no no problem there at all but the issue came from the fact

13:32that the two actors involved craig kelly and danny newton were just not engaging enough for me i mean the first

13:41few scenes were okay between the two um but it started to get more annoying as we saw more and more

13:48of them together and yeah at the end i just became very tired of it the whole thing just felt very hokey

13:56to me and um yeah it really added no value to the overall narrative another dislike i wanted to mention

14:06would be the film's actual title the young americans for me the title was a complete mismatch and

14:17it failed to convey the film's actual themes and tone i don't know about you but for me hearing the young

14:27americans it makes me think of some sort of coming of age teen drama not a violent crime thriller and i

14:39also think that perhaps the title may have hurt the film's marketability i don't know it was a dumb name

14:49for a fairly decent crime drama and if it was up to me it should have been retitled i didn't even

14:57understand the reason for it i mean there were no young americans within the film so i was confused

15:06and so ratings for the young americans from 1993 i am going to be rating this movie a solid

15:20four out of ten the young americans was a solid crime drama that showcased london's deadly criminal

15:29underworld for me it was a nice change of pace having an american la detective hang out and work

15:37the streets of london and i just want to say that with all of its faults that i've mentioned make no

15:44mistake that this is a very well made film from the lighting to the set design to the cinematography

15:54everything was top notch and yeah credit to all those involved because this may have been a i don't

16:02say you know limited production but it didn't look cheap directing is a monumental task for anyone to

16:10undertake and it must have been pretty hard for a director like danny cannon at the time who had

16:16limited experience walking onto a movie set and working with some established stars like vigo

16:22mordinson and harvey kytel canon was given an opportunity and he didn't waste it so credit to

16:32him and it's just a shame that he didn't really go on to have a illustrious film career you know i

16:39can't say that the young americans is essential viewing but if you're a fan of harvey kytel then you

16:46should definitely check it out and well that's all for me today guys i hope you have enjoyed the review

16:53of the young americans from 1993 i'll be back next week don't forget to like and subscribe and of course

17:01take care

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