I do my best to keep up with all movies that
come out, in hopes that I manage to find a gem; but every once in a while one
or two manage to fly under my radar. One of those is the recently released
British prison film, "Starred Up." Now I had never heard about this
film until two weeks ago, it premiered at a film festival last year and has
been met with rave reviews ever since. After its limited release earlier this
year, some have been calling it one of the best films of 2014. So I have been
pretty excited for this movie, and going into it I had some very high
expectations. And after watching it, those expectations were blown out of the
water.
Taking place in a high
security men's prison in England, the film follows a young man named Erik who
has just been transferred to the facility. Erik is a troubled young man, with
some extremely violent tendencies. He was transferred to the prison from a
young offender institution, at the same time his father is also in the prison
and is one of the big dogs on campus. Despite being a piece of sh*t, he really
does want to help his son and forces him into group therapy sessions. Despite
being told to follow the rules, Erik quickly makes enemies of both the guards
and several other prisoners; and is forced to fight for his life on more than
one occasion. All he has to do is to play the game, and eventually get out on
patrol; but for some reason, Erik doesn't really seem to care.
"Starred Up" is
straight up (terrible pun intended) one of the best movies of the year, and
probably the best prison movie since "The Shawshank Redemption."
Every actor gives the movie their all, but star Jack O'Connell undoubtedly
steals the show in one of the best performances of the year. The movie is also
very well written with funny and sincere moments, there's also a type of nail
biting tension for a lot of dialog between characters; you feel that at any
second someone is about to lose their sh*t and shank somebody. One thing I
noticed was the great cinematography; not a lot of different locations are used
and many are in small areas like prison cells, but the cinematographer makes
the most of the situation. One thing that is very common among prison films
would be violence, and "Starred Up" is no different. There are some
truly brutal fight scenes in this movie and there are as intense as they come.
The first fight in the movie is one of the best scenes of any movie I've seen this
year, that alone is worth giving the movie a shot. My only problems with the
movie would be related to pacing; "Starred Up" is a slow burn, it
takes at least 15 minutes for something truly interesting to happen. And there
are some long breaks between the more exciting scenes. The movie is never
boring, but you’re always waiting for the next fight or emotional breakdown.
That aside, this is a really incredible movie. Probably one of the five best
movies I've seen so far this year, I'm certain you'll be seeing this somewhere
on my best of the year list. If you've been looking for an intense drama,
"Starred Up" is a must watch; and it has my highest
recommendations.
Pros: Great acting, gritty and realistic, well
written, great cinematography, several very intense scenes, in your face
brutality, nail biting tension.
Cons: Slow burn, long breaks between excitement.
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