Starred Up: DVD Review
The Movie:
Eric (Jack O’Connell) is a violent young offender, prematurely thrown into the dark world of an adult prison. As he struggles to assert himself against the prison officers and the other inmates, he has to confront his own father, Nev (Ben Mendelsohn); a man who has spent most of his life in jail. As Eric forges allegiances with other prisoners, he learns that his rage can be overcome and discovers the new rules of survival. But there are forces at work which threaten to destroy him.
This film is interesting in the sense that I haven’t seen anything like it in a very long time. It’s the perfect example of how people, young men especially, can get caught up in the prison system so easily. There isn’t actually a straight storyline to the film at all. It seems to be more about following the experience of one young man in his first experience in an adult prison. There’s also a deep side story of him trying to reconnect with his father who is an inmate in the same prison as well. O’Connell is absolutely amazing in this film and if Unbroken wasn’t enough you truly see just how much of a powerful actor he truly is. There were moments where the film was kind of hard to see because of just how unfortunate Eric’s life was. The best part of O’Connell’s portrayal was that as much of a bad guy as he is I started to really start to root for him to turn himself around and set himself straight because you can see that deep down he was a troubled guy that felt bad about the things he’s done deep down. The film captures the feel of what I imagine would like being incarcerated. It’s so dark and unapologetic in it’s view on prison life which makes the film captivating and something you can’t take your eyes off of. 9/10
Special Features:
Behind The Scenes Featurette – Your basic BTS feature with certain members of the cast talking about what attracted them to this film.
