---
title: "American History X: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/american-history-x/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/american-history-x"
critics_score: 62
critics_reviews: 9
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# American History X (1998): what the critics said

Critics' score 62 from 9 reviews: 5 positive, 2 mixed, 2 negative.

## Empire — Adam Smith

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2012. 

The critic deems it a fine film centered on Edward Norton's towering, convincing performance as a racist with retained humanity, though noting flaws in backstory, direction, and the ending.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/american-history-x-review/)

## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 30 October 1998. 

The film is well-made with powerful scenes and strong performances, particularly from Edward Norton, but its underlying structure is too apparent and it hurries through its bases without fully developing key elements like the prison experience. It is a good and powerful film that contains the promise of being more than it ultimately delivers.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/american-history-x-1998)

## Sight and Sound — Andrew O'Hehir

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 

The critic finds the film easy to mock for its heavy-handed dialogue and simplistic plotting around racism and redemption, yet praises its impressive scale, craft, and powerful non-verbal tableaux of images.

[Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/92)

## The New York Times — Janet Maslin

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 28 October 1998. 

This is an inflated yet gut-slugging film that dares to address America's neo-Nazi culture with brutal candor, featuring fiery acting and provocative bombast from Edward Norton in a dual-faceted role. Its willingness to take on ugly political realities gives it substance, though it mixes handsome photo-realism with visceral punch in a manner reminiscent of hyperstylists like Michael Cimino and Spike Lee.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/28/movies/film-review-the-darkest-chambers-of-a-nation-s-soul.html)

## The AV Club — Scott Tobias

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 22 July 2010. 

The critic praises the film's blunt candor in addressing racial tensions but criticizes its many flaws, including overwrought visuals and implausible character transformations. Norton’s magnetic performance and Kaye’s outsider view of American extremism are highlighted as sources of its primal power.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/american-history-x-1798220966)

## Time Out — WH

Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. 

The review notes that the shock opening sums up the film's strengths and weaknesses as a would-be liberal drama on neo-Nazism, but praises Norton's astounding performance and its feeling for reactionary working-class male environments.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/american-history-x)

## The Independent

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 25 March 1999. 

The critic calls the film facile and meretricious overall, singling out only Edward Norton's magnetic performance as worth seeing amid the variable script and distracting visual style.

[Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-also-showing-1082865.html)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 28 October 1998. 

The film is a simplistic and unconvincing look at a serious problem despite a kernel of a good idea and a forceful, mesmerizing performance by Edward Norton as an articulate racist. Kaye's razzle-dazzle cinematography underlines the excitement of capturing racism on film, but the bombastic, clumsy script feels that because racists aren’t subtle a film about them needn’t be either.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-28-ca-36714-story.html)

## Den of Geek — Ryan Lambie

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 5 September 2016. 

The critic calls the film a spectacular diamond in the rough with stylish direction and outstanding performances from Norton and Furlong. It highlights how the troubled production overshadowed a powerful exploration of racial hatred and redemption.

[Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/american-history-x-and-tony-kaye-hollywood-maverick/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/american-history-x.md