| |
| | SPLICEDwire | "Max" review (2002) Menno Meyjes, John Cusack, Noah Taylor |
 | | Hitler, played by the talented Noah Taylor ("Shine"), is so nervously seething with bile, resentment, fear and anger that it's difficult to take him seriously during pivotal scenes in which the young Nazi party organizer is spitting his venomous but empty anti-Semitic propaganda to crowds on the streets of Berlin. |
 | | When this national disgust begets Hitler's nationalistic rhetoric, however, Meyjes and Taylor over-sell his vehemence to such a degree that if it weren't for the actor's commitment to finding the character's heart -- fl as it may be -- he'd be as ridiculous as an action movie villain. |
 | | When he's not taking the part to the extreme, Taylor's hollow cheeks, bad haircut, tattered army jacket and haggard, defeated but choleric body language personify a festering malignity that provides an eerie glimpse into his character's future. |
| www.splicedwire.com /02reviews/max.html (760 words) |
|