On the Inside

A decent but troubled young man (Nick Stahl) is sent to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane and soon finds himself in a fight for his life battling ghosts inside his head and very real enemies all around him.

This film has received generally low ratings and reviews, and I find that unfortunate. I saw one review saying this film had no point. I will not even address that. I did find it extremely odd that an intelligent young man was put in a psychiatric ward when he is clearly a rational person. What he did was heinous, but completely understandable and not in any way due to mental illness. But, oh well.

That issue aside, the acting is great (without the need for "big names"), the story is fantastic (not your typical prison story), the directing is more than adequate. The actor who plays Ben really steals the show. I am sad to see that Olivia Wilde does little more than serve as the romantic interest. Her mental issues could be a good story of their own, but are more or less completely ignored.

Great film? Probably not. But better than average and worth seeing.

Hmm...not sure about this one.

The film was very well written, it was engaging, the actors were impressive and there was genuine emotional involvement.

But after watching it, instead of thinking "what a good film", all I could think was "what was the point of that?" And I'm not even someone who thinks films have to have deep and meaningful things to say but even Transformers has a point (save the world etc.) There is literally no reason for this film unless I missed something. Is there a message about being good? about rehabilitation? loneliness? what?! I don't know and I don't think I can recommend people watch a film that is so pointless.

I would give the film a 5 for "overall" enjoyment and at least 7 for the overall great execution of the film so I will rate it a 6.

Watch it if you are a fan of any of the actors because you won't be bored but don't be surprised when you feel strangely disappointed after watching.

Is it an epic masterpiece? No. Is it well and appropriately written? Yes. Is it well acted? Absolutely.

OK, some of the back-story is left a little lacking in flashbacks that are extremely short and for the most part lacking in development. But the present is well thought out, follows a natural character progression, and there aren't any unnecessary character trait flips to create artificial drama. The ending is appropriate for the progression of the story. Even the audio is perfectly developed.

Basically, this hits the mark on every mark except special effects (which would feel completely tacked on and unnecessary anyway). I don't get why there are so many poor reviews for something very solid!

Allen Meneric (Nick Stahl) is committed to a psychiatric institution after killing the wrong man for raping his girlfriend. There he deal with violent patients (Dash Mihok and Pruitt Taylor Vince). Once he is allowed into the minimum security section, he meets a beautiful bipolar female inmate Mia (Olivia Wilde). The institution is loose with security, and Dr. Lofton (Shohreh Aghdashloo) in charge refuses to address. Inevitably things go wrong.

The story meanders quite a bit. It takes a few detours into the killing, his past while we wait for the action to start. The pace is rather slow and the action doesn't start till the end. Nick Stahl doesn't have enough emotional drama. If this was a character study, they needed to get him to overcome emotional hurdles.

Well after viewing this only a few minutes ago I'll try to give an outline without being emotionally invested. Great acting from Olivia Wilde and Nick Stahl. The soundtrack was good and the pace was even, as it built the frame around Stahl's character,as to what he actually did or did not do to get him locked in the mental facility. Upon introduction into to Dash Mihok's character Carl, there is an immediate tenseness brought in as they let his evil be well apparent. Of course since O.Wilde is housed in the same facility we can guess there will be some sort of relationship between her and Stahl. Although it wasn't a film with big "thrills" or serious action it did very good keeping my attention, I rarely get emotionally involved but found myself caught up and full of anger at points that I won't mention, I would recommend to anyone, especially those who are looking for some real raw emotion out of a film.

Also I need to mention the great job of Pruitt Taylor Vince as he was great as supporting cast. It's freaky how he makes his eyes go back and forth so quickly, I just about blinded myself trying to do it *>)