Prisoner's Daughter

Max (Brian Cox) is a prisoner dying from cancer. He can be given compassionate release if his daughter Maxine (Kate Beckinsale) is willing to take him in. She hates him for abandoning her to her unstable mother. She is a struggling single mom to Ezra who is being bullied at school. Her ex is a volatile drug addict.

This is directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The story is somewhat derivative. Everything feels a little flat. There is a lack of high intensity stake to the material. Max is dying which eliminates the largest possible stake for him. That is why the ending doesn't have the intended tension. Mostly, I like this for the greatness that is Brian Cox. Honestly, I didn't even recognize Kate Beckinsale. I thought she was a lesser known Latina actress. The actors are all doing good work. The writing is a little uneven, but it doesn't sink this for me.

... Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox control-completely the narrative and this movie... a basic uncomplicated story, parts having been told many times before... done very well, it has an obvious ending, and is a film that you're in all probability not going to be watching again, not that it isn't good, for it is

... Kate Beckinsale this year now fifty-years-old and still remains one of the most charming beautiful women in films... she can act the hell out of any part and here along with Brian Cox there are several very powerful scenes together.... prolific in her work, it takes awhile going through reading-her-wiki-bio (Pete Davidson..??)... she's the consummate-professional-actor-star

... enjoy-the film.

Brian Cox put's in a great performance. But Not enough to save the movie.

One dimensional a very predictable redemption story that needed a few more twists and turns. That only arrive in the closing moments.

Kate Beckinsale is good in the role to. Has a struggling single mum. To a boy who needs strength to find his place in the world. A role model not available from his junkie dad. Finds a role model hero in his newly realised from prison Grand father .

That is the level of cliches used this movie. It's is a shame It had the potential and the cast to be much better offering. Easy watch. Worth viewing for some good acting.

This film is basically a showcase for Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale. If it wasn't for their acting talent, this would have been torture to sit through. The story is basic and the dialouge can feel stilted more often than not. The plot devices used here are also as stale as a day old hot dog. Been there, seen it, got the movie ticket. I would like to mention that the only thing keeping me from rating this a 3 instead of a 2.5 is the ending. It didn't feel natural with the story and felt like a cop out for all the emotion the audience is asked to invest throughout.

Overall, you could do better and you could do worse. This film is very middle of the road entertainment, no matter how talented it's lead actors are. The material just never rises about mediocrity.

2.5 dirtbag dads out of 5.

This was unexpectedly entertaining; I think I can congratulate the film makers on successfully breaking out of the infamous Hollywood comfort zone and for a refreshing change trying to show real-world people dealing with the bad choices they have made and the price it cost their families.

Pros:

• characters we could relate to (at last!)
• well paced and believable story

Cons:

• story a bit old and cliched
• shaky camera (not again!)
• female lead's fake lips on top of quite visible makeup that contradicted her role
• too sugary sometimes

I'm rating it 6 but it's actually a compliment coming from me. Most movies these days I don't even bother to rate and turn off after 10 to 15 minutes of runtime.