Convict

Saw this on late night TV and only half watched it to the end because the only other channel alternatives were infomercials and televangelists. A shallow and vapid regurgitation of every prison film cliche you've ever seen without even a hint of imagination or style to perhaps give SOMETHING a fresh twist. There is nothing here beyond badly scripted foul language and wimpishly poor staged violence. Even some shower attempted gay rape scenes that would breeze into a PG rating. This is a fat blob of nothing and I am left wondering why it was ever funded or made. If you looked at the script on paper, perhaps it would have some potential as trash cinema if the material was pushed to visceral extremes - but it wasn't. It is too timid to do so and the end result is just a waste of resources, talent and time that were stolen from someone else's film project that could not possibly have ended up worse. It is an embarrassment. If it ever shows up on your late night viewing, go to bed with a book instead. You will thank me for it,

This is not a bad movie. It's just an Aussie version of Conair. The actors in this movie are good. I like the old prison site and real ex convicts being used per authenticity. I think the script could have been a little more original. I liked some of the scenes filmed near Sydney.

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.

I had never heard of George Basha until I saw his film The combination Redemption on Netflix . So I googled and found he had directed and starred in this film . So I watched it and boy was I gripped onto my seat . He brings realism to his films and this film is no different . It makes you feel every emotion that the character goes through . One of the best prison films I have seen . Must watch