I don't get the high ratings on here. Sure, it's not terrible, but it's no better than average, either.
A pretty typical story about a prisoner taking another under his wing is mostly an excuse to show off the brutality of the prison system. A very grim movie, even considering the genre, featuring tasteless gore (someone is grousomely turned into hamburger by a runaway semi-truck within the first ten minutes) along with every humiliating experience prison can offer. Chow-Yun Fat is hamming it up, everyone else is forgettable and/or bad. It feels longer than it is, and is only saved by a solid ending featuring some bizarre action.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.. sorry I was just thinking of better prison films like Cool Hand Luke, Riki-Oh, Romper Stomper, Bronson... the list goes on.
A pretty typical story about a prisoner taking another under his wing is mostly an excuse to show off the brutality of the prison system. A very grim movie, even considering the genre, featuring tasteless gore (someone is grousomely turned into hamburger by a runaway semi-truck within the first ten minutes) along with every humiliating experience prison can offer. Chow-Yun Fat is hamming it up, everyone else is forgettable and/or bad. It feels longer than it is, and is only saved by a solid ending featuring some bizarre action.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.. sorry I was just thinking of better prison films like Cool Hand Luke, Riki-Oh, Romper Stomper, Bronson... the list goes on.