Convict

Yes, it's clichéd. Yes, it's predictable. Yes, it has touches of Mean machine (the longest yard).

This is a highly watchable, with moments of cringe, prison movie. It doesn't paper over the cracks, it just shows a fictional, what might be possible if you go to prison scenario. If this movie deters even just one kid away from crime, then it's been worthwhile.

Yes, it's quite brutally grim in parts, but the that only adds to its message.

Enjoy.

I wanted to like this low budget, gritty prison drama as I recognised that at least the producers established some realities of Sydney gaol culture - it's completely run along ethnic divisions. Prison gangs ( except for WASP's) Form according to racial profile. There is corruption, violence, and mistrust - and the laws are strictly schoolyard politics. However, that was as far as the realism extended. The premise, the writing, the Plot, the characters were so one-dimensional, so trite it made me cringe. I felt for the actors who had to spout lines so ridiculously predictable it was laughable. It made a Robert.G.Barrett novel seem like Dostoevsky. Warden in cahoots with the prison's top dog? Even the Young Ones were parodying such an overused plot device 35 years ago. The Pathos is slapped on thicker than a cheese and Vegemite sandwich. Obviously the producers thought casting a wide net at the expense of creative integrity was a smart move, but Australian audiences have come along way and are no fools ( except for the troglodytes that simply revere gangster culture). Give this one a very wide berth.

Wrongly convicted...check Sadistic warden...check Young kid that main character cares about...check Sadistic guards...check Old grizzled convict who befriends...check One guard who is not as crooked and tries to help...check Sodomy scene...check Multiple prison murders that no one questions...check

Film follows every prison formula without adding any originality of its own.

Acting is forced, with some characters blurting out dialogue like a high school play. Emotional range is very limited for all actors. Motivation for why the people are acting the way they are seems manufactured, not developed. In addition, several MAJOR plotlines introduced are either forgotten, or edited out, making you wonder about what happened to so-and-so. Just slight logic being used would make movie null and void.

I don't get all the low raters, look if you want a classic prisoner film watch the 1972 Papillon, or Midnight Express - a real remarkable film, "Scum" is another, there's a few greats, surely you knew what you were getting into with Convict? By the very title and the first few minutes it's a kind of give away... it's a kick ass, tension belter, hard man, beat me up often flick.

Sometimes it's good to have Burger than a Steak, that's it, if you enjoy a lower budget prison film this is for you, if you're expecting a Oscar award winning, thought provoking classic, you're going to be disappointed, people educate yourself with films, Google it, it isn't hard, the choice of prison films is huge, also except you're not gonna find many new classics made now, best period for this genre was the 1970's. No question. Having said that, I enjoyed this because I knew what I was gonna get.

Some of the worst acting I've ever seen. The movie is unintentionally funny. It really is that bad.