American Animals | SXSW 2018 Film Review

If there was a criminal profession I think I would enjoy, it is being a thief. You’re not inherently hurting someone. Your targets could be easily justifiable. And there is even an opportunity to play a Robin Hood-like role in your community if you were so inclined. Let me be honest though, I would be a terrible thief. I am more of a trial-and-error type of learner, so that would mean a lot of prison time and that is not agreeable with my social calendar.

American Animals is the true story about four guys that attempt to steal one of the most valuable books in the world from a university in Kentucky. Why? No good reason except it’s there to be taken – easily. They’re kept in a special room with guarded access but resistance, in general, is fairly minimal. When one is planning such an event with one’s conspirators, trust is a huge building block. Everybody has a part to play and adds their own pieces to the puzzle. Lies. Exaggerations. Miscommunication. These are elements which can derail a project before it even gets off the ground.

What separates American Animals from other heist movies is the style in which the story is told. The portrayals of the characters are spliced in with short commentaries from the actual people the film is based on. This is a break from the conventional way of “based on true story” types of film where we see the real people at the end of a film. This also goes a long way in establishing the premises of poor planning, bad memory, and/or outright lies.

So if you’re planning a heist, where would you go to for information? Hollywood, of course. The foursome pours over hours upon hours of cunning crime cinema and American Animals pulls no punches with nods to some of these greats like Ocean’s Eleven and Reservoir Dogs. True to form of any heist movie, things don’t go as expected and turn much darker than anticipated.

Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk, ‘71) is the brilliant but easily-swayed Spencer Reinhard, while Evan Peters (X-Men, American Horror Story) is Warren Lipka, the frenetic friend that may or may not be responsible for the shenanigans and developments in the film. Once it becomes clear that it isn’t as simple as just walking in and taking the books, they recruit two more cohorts. As the noose gets tighter and tighter, Keoghan’s anxiety-laced performance is infectious as you can feel your own stress level rising.

The film has a run time of about two hours but could have done itself a favor by shaving off about ten to fifteen minutes. Somewhere towards the end of the second act and beginning of the third is where it slows down and begins to feel a bit laborious. As a whole, though, American Animals is a fun heist movie that steals a little from the past to create a new way of storytelling for the future.