Starred Up (2014)
19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.
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You won't be disappointed!
hyped garbage
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Blistering performances.
Having loved David Mackenzie's latest film 2016's 'Hell or High Water' and being recommended another critically acclaimed film 'Starred Up', via reviews for 'Hell or High Water' praising some of Mackenzie's previous work, 'Starred Up' fascinated me from the get go and didn't disappoint.It is a near-instant classic, though its hard-hitting and brutally violent nature won't appeal to everybody, and British prison drama doesn't get much better than 'Starred Up'. What seems familiar, and it doesn't exactly tread new ground, avoids being clichéd. To me, the only thing that doesn't quite work is that some of the prison justice elements is a little overcooked. Otherwise, 'Starred Up' is terrific.'Starred Up' looks stylish and enhances the setting's realistic queasiness and toughness. The music is suitably haunting, without overdoing or underplaying it.Mackenzie directs with darkly compelling realism and plays a large part in making the father-son relationship so gripping and dynamic, creating an environment so dehumanising and harrowing and delving into the film's sociological tone.The script is taut, sharp and smart, authentic in its abrasiveness yet with welcome and never misplaced humour and never forced pathos. And life in prison has rarely been depicted with the amount of clarity shown here. The storytelling really hits hard in a gritty and unashamedly uncompromising fashion, develops the remarkably complex characters beautifully and never holds back or take any prisoners, while bleak and violent it's effective in showing prison life's brutality and never trivialising it.Jack O'Connell's anti-hero is tragically troubled while showing sympathetic and powerful sides, seamlessly commanding the screen in a powerhouse lead performance. His performance is matched brilliantly by the coldly intense one of Ben Mendelssohn. Their complex characters and dynamic chemistry dominate the film and outstandingly. Rupert Friend is just as strong.Overall, not quite perfect but absolutely wonderful. Just know what you're letting yourself in for. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Hahaha... recorded this last night and watched it for free today.This is obviously intended to be a Scum for the 2010s, with the emphasis, however, very much on the pyrotechnics ... I was laughing for most of it, thinking: "how many seconds are we going to have to wait for the next bit of 'Moindless Mayhem' (as they might say in Sarf London)?" Funnily enough the stuff at the beginning identified the funders for this film as being Scottish and Northern Irish film funding bodies... and yet it was entirely Southern English based, with nary a non-London accent to be heard. If I were a taxpayer in Scotland or "Norn Iron" I might feel a bit miffed about that.Central to the film is the relationship between the young whippersnapper and his Old Man, and the cliché for each is that "E can look after 'imself", if you get my drift. Chip off the old block, innit? Please don't pay money to watch this film if you are looking for sociological insight. But I've seen worse entertainment films.
***spoiler**This movie proves that Jack O'Connell is a rising star that is going to go super nova with the right role at any minute. As a new fan of his I've started watching his films and each get better and better. From beginning to end this movie was hard to watch yet hard to take your eyes away from the screen. You are drawn to Eric Love (O'Connell) from the very beginning. From understanding a 19 year old sent to an adult prison 2 years earlier than normal you know he's going to be up against the bad and the worst of humanity. Then to find out his father is in the same cell block adds another layer of intrigue and worry. He portrays "crazy" to survive but you wonder if he just might be a bit crazy. With a good taste of the movie Bronson staring Tom Hardy, I can see where this star is going. I wish more of his movies were on this side of the pond. This movie is a fast paced, action packed emotional ride. Hold on tight and fall in love with Jack O'Connell.
There is really no plot to this movie. Just a young man goes to prison, meets up with his dad and not much else happens. It took me 4 tries to watch this movie. I finally set viewing to 4x near the end to keep from falling asleep. ALmost no action. Dialog is poor at best. No moral, no plot, just trudging along an average person in jail. I do not usually regret watching a movie because If its bad enough, I stop watching near the beginning. But, this one has great acting and i kept wanting something to happen. Alas, nothing ever does. There is more going on in a 15 minute span of watching OZ on HBO. I would have giving it a 1 star but the acting was good.