Lack of good storyline.

A lot of fun.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This film puts you on the stage with (almost) all the protagonists of the scene. Now, I saw the efforts in the production: many interviews, many concerts, however, in the end, I cannot hide that it's remained in me a feeling of disappointment. There are many, too many bands ignored in this documentary that, according to its presentation, should talk about history of hardcore in the USA. Well, for example, I haven't heard of the Dead Kennedys even once. This is only one of the many absences (for me, the worst) that have petrified me. It's a good film and everyone who like this musical genre should watch it in my opinion, but what a pity.

This movie depicted the American hardcore punk scene from 79 to 86, where people rebelled from the system, and had a great time doing it. a common misconception was that these hardcore punks were completely criminals, so they got used to the label and stuck with it. band like circle jerks, cro mags, and others would talk about the drug use in punk music, with the exception of minor threat, it was controlled, but it was an important aspect. bands like black flag, seven seconds, and the numerous bands from dischord were mentioned, and i bow down to these hardcore gods. understand this movie is not about the dead kennedy's or any of those 70's punk bands, this movie was strictly about the hardcore, in your face bands.

I think American Hardcore is a good movie to show to people that doesn't have a clue about the roots of hardcore. Mainly here in Brazil, where emocore is kinda dominating the punk/hc scene and the youngest guys thinks Green Day invented hardcore (no joke, I'm serious) and a great injustice was repaired, giving Bad Brains the status they always deserved: one of the most influent bands and co-founders of the style.These were the pro's, now the con's: WHERE IS DK, DRI, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES ON THIS DOCUMENTARY??????? Three of the most seminal bands of the scene (these three between the few ones that stills in activity today) were poorly mentioned, the rising of Bay Area Thrash Metal (heavily influenced by HC) was also ignored and the European bands (that also influenced American bands) were neglected. As far as I know, the scene wasn't just restricted to LA-DC-Boston, and the documentary just ended in a blank note... For those who doesn't know hardcore history, looks like it disappeared in 1986 and had no influence at all on the music produced today.About the political side, sincerely I don't believe 15/16 years old junkies (as the people describe themselves on the documentary) have such political consciousness as they proudly stated; it looked more like angry kids having fun with music, celebrating/living their own lifestyle than a left-wing organized movement (of course there were exceptions)...The chronology looked chaotic to me, although the good footage and some good stories of the past.The veredict is: good, but not that good...PS: I watched American Hardcore right after Dogtown and Z-Boys (a documentary that should be used as template by filmmakers), and I was wandering that Stacy Peralta, Craig Stecyk and Glen Friedman should have been the producers/directors of AHC. Not only for their skills as filmmakers, but because of the involvement of them with the scene (check the book "Fuck You Heroes" produced by Glen Friedman, where he portraits the birth of modern skateboarding at Dogtown, in parallel with the LA hardcore - i.e. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies first gigs and rehearsals), back when hardcore punk and skateboarding were very closer.

Any time a movie comes out that displays the full extent of Henry Rollins's stupidity, I'm all for it. But...Less pathetic attempts at trying to be pretentious about this retarded scene would have served this documentary better. Just the way this movie starts, with its ridiculous and predictable anti-Reagan, pro-Leftist malarkey (including a drawn-out, utterly pointless scene of Reagan's inauguration), pretty much sets the tone for much that follows. Fortunately, politics does not end up as the central theme. However, the fun aspect of such a scene, i.e. the humorous anecdotes, should have been more in the forefront. After all, the scene pretty much consisted of a bunch of semi-intelligent reprobates, so what's this nonsense about trying to inject seriousness into the "message" these ignorant juveniles may have had? Who cares about their anti-Reaganism? What the hell do they know about economics, Communism, or foreign policy? On the one hand many of the people here talk about how different they were from the mainstream (which musically they unquestionably were), yet on the other hand, we've got one ex-hardcore band member telling us proudly how ALL bands of the era wrote anti-Reagan songs. How dull. So, in a sense, anyone in that scene was just as CONFORMIST - within the scene - as the masses of people in the so-called mainstream society.Nevermind the fact that some of these "punks" were sons and daughters of wealthy/well-off upper- and middle-class families. (The Asian guy's father is a SENATOR.) What the hell did THEY have to bitch about? Life was tough on them? Their daddies didn't buy them cars for their 16th birthdays? I love these momma's boys punks. "Tough" on the outside, insecure little losers on the inside.There are many familiar faces, if one is/was in touch with the scene, several interesting stories, and yes, some anecdotes. What the movie lacks is a relaxed, unpretentious attitude. After all, we're not discussing rocket science here. And while most of the people interviewed have low IQs, many of them are charismatic and have interesting things to say (as long as they steer clear from politics). And while I was grateful that an attempt was made to get so many main HC personalities into the film, I was a bit annoyed by the inclusion of Flea from the RHCP and Duff from Guns'n'Roses. What do THESE clowns have to do with the hardcore punk scene?? I couldn't care less that they like(d) HC. I also thought the inclusion of Moby was just to sell theater tickets. His relevance in HC (or any other "relevant" type of) music is pretty much around zero.The documentary is interesting throughout, I'll give it that, if well short of fascinating - which it should have been, considering that it's about a fascinating scene. A little too polished, perhaps, too. If you want to see a thoroughly enjoyable film about a(ny) hardcore scene, watch "N.Y.H.C.", which is just FUN, no pretensions about anyone changing the world i.e. Marxist dogma being spouted care-freely (and ignorantly) by semi-literate near-junkies. It is a terrific documentary that will have you feeling both nostalgic and rolling with laughter.There are quite a few bands presented here that I knew from name only (Minor Threat, for example), and some that I'd never heard of before, so from that aspect it was quite interesting, as well, giving one a chance to check out some highlights from that era that one might have missed out on. However, just like nearly every HC fan will feel some of his favourite bands were left out, so it is with me. I could not understand why the Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I. play such a tiny role here! Especially the latter: D.R.I. was one of the most successful and (subjectively speaking, of course) best HC bands of that era, and of the era that followed (late 80s, early 90s).All in all, well worth a watch, but simply because there are very few documentaries on the subject so one is forced to watch whatever one is being offered.For more of my music-world rants, go to: http://rateyourmusic.com/collection/Fedor8/1