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American Hardcore
Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
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  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    90
    Excellent documentary American Hardcore chronicles the short-lived but influential musical moment when a defiantly anti-commercial underground put a distinctive U.S. stamp on the hitherto Brit-driven punk movement.
  2. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    83
    The triumph of American Hardcore is that it convinces general audiences that there were vast underground reservoirs of angst and anguish to be tapped.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Rob Nelson
    80
    The story of American punk rock (1980–1986) isn't a lot easier to summarize than that of any other major war, but it's quite a bit funnier, as this belated documentary overview--based on Steven Blush's like-titled tome--proves in each of its 90 exuberantly irritable minutes.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    80
    Stands as a valuable chronicle of a brief and snarling musical movement.
  5. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    Messed up as it is, you can't tear your eyes away from this explosion of brutal sounds and images.
  6. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    A first-rate documentary on this subgenre of punk rock, which flourished roughly between 1982 and 1986 as an anarchistic response to Ronald Reagan and the disco era.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gregory Kirshling
    75
    Illuminating nostalgia, stuffed with all the right tattooed talking heads (like Black Flag's Henry Rollins), plus grim-looking concert footage of wailing skinny guys.
  8. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Bill White
    75
    Hardcore remains, in the words of Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye, the voice of "kids who refuse to be slotted into generic kids roles," so fans of current groups such as Disturbed may feel shortchanged by allegations that it was all over by 1986.
  9. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    75
    A raucous, relevant documentary, capturing the mood of the times and the participants' best anecdotes.
  10. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Sally Foster
    70
    Not only documents a fascinating part of American history, but also leaves us wondering how (and if) this era's youth will manage to find a voice of their own.
  11. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    Some of American Hardcore is amusing -- many of the aging punks Rachman and Blush track down have turned into highly ordinary middle-aged Americans -- and some is profoundly disturbing.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Scott Martelle
    70
    The documentary is an enlightening journey to a dark corner of contemporary punk's dank little basement. It also will surprise some to hear how articulately some of the former performers explain the dark impulses that propelled them.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    70
    A toned-down cinematic equivalent of the music: fast and loud, but not too loud. The movie scrambles to cover so much territory that there is room only for musical shards and slivers; few complete songs are heard, and no signature anthems stand out.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    67
    American Hardcore encapsulates a largely forgotten (by the mainstream, that is) moment in maximum rock & roll history.
  15. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    67
    Hardcore might have been confused and crude, but it was never guilty of being tepid, like this film.
  16. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Louis R. Carlozo
    63
    Exhaustive and at turns exhausting.
  17. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    A sloppy mosh note to the genre, with its own excesses and oversights. It's like a flier for a band you've never heard of: torn, soaked with beer, itchy with aggression.
  18. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Stephen Cole
    63
    In a better work, the filmmaker would talk to hardcore punks about their parents, affairs, regrets, dreams and day jobs in an effort to explore the fledgling movement. Here, however, we get little more than a marathon MTV rap session, as Rachman drives about North America, yakking with aging punk heroes about the good ol' bad ol' days.
  19. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    60
    Fans will dig the abundant performance video and commentary from Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye; everyone else should steer clear of the mosh pit.
  20. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Will Crain
    50
    There's a lot of interesting material here, but Rachman doesn't offer any real analysis of his own, and the film suffers from a lack of narrative focus.
  21. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    50
    Twenty-five years on, hardcore continues to be the soundtrack of choice for extreme, white-supremacist groups hoping to tap into teenage rage. With no one on hand to counter the argument, this may go down as hardcore's lasting legacy.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. caporegime
    10
    Perfectly explained and documented.
  2. ChadS.
    7
    Punk rock never quite made it to Hawaii. We had Frank Orrall, whose first band was called Hat Makes the Man. Orrall, of course, is the brainchild behind Poi Dog Pondering, Hawaii's sole contribution to the "alternative" music scene during college radio's heyday. What Blue Oyster Cult did for the cowbell("Don't Fear the Reaper"), Poi Dog Pondering did for the tin whistle("Living with the Dreaming Body"). Needless to say, I was listening to Gary Numan at the start of the hardcore movement("Here in my car, I feel safest of all"), and moved on to China Crisis("Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms" is underrated, man!) when Black Flag called it quits. "American Hardcore" is only as good as the music they're covering, and since this documentary insists on being a comprehensive one, the film drags a bit when the film shines the spotlight on the midwest. Things pick up again when the film covers the advent of SST Records, because Henry Rollins and Ian McKaye are brought back as testifiers to this, yes, ancedotal, but entertaining oral history. On IFC, Rollins talks about his renewed love for ELO, and all things classic rock, but his contemporaries are diehards, apparently, still ragging on those dinosaur acts like Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles. Foghat? Why pick on Foghat? I'd love to hear Vic Bondi(Articles of Faith) comment about Jack Johnson. According to the British, hardcore never existed. After The Sex Pistols disbanded, the era between 1978-1984 is commonly labeled as post-punk. You can probably play "Holiday in the Sun" to a mixed audience with a minimal amount of agitation from the MOR-jetset, but that's not the case with Bad Brains' "Pay to Cum". So, is punk rock dead? Don't tell that to Les Savy Fav, who kicked everybody's ass on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" during the writers' strike. I've lived in Hawaii my entire life and I had no idea Dan Inouye's son played in Marginal Man.… Full Review »
  3. JesseO.
    9
    One of the best films of the 80's true punk evolution really liked the interviews of some of those most resposible for it all.
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