Lannisters in prison.. they've come so far

Tough, rough prison movie, with a seemingly far-fetched premise...but who are we to judge? Prison changes a man, and what [spoiler] a man will do to protect his family [/spoiler] could lead any of us to do the same.

Gritty, depressing, electric. A Waugh specialty. I tend to gravitate to the stories he both writes and directs. It took me too long to finally watch this one. Solid stuff. 7.5

Pretty bad ass prison movie. It's a character piece, that (much like Breaking Bad) shows how a mild mannered everyman can transform into a criminal mastermind.

Well acted. But more importantly, a not so subtle criticism of the goals penitentiary system present mostly in the US, and common to most of the western world. Is it there to punish or rehabilitate people? If the answer is to rehabilitate, the legislative (laws) and judiciary (D.A. and Courts) branches are doing a poor job. If as shown by the movie a driver with an accident DUI don't stand a chance of getting type rehabilitation when Laws, Defense, Prosecution, and Courts advise him that the lesser evil is achieved by entering into a plea with the D.A. and accept he'll be punished with jail time. Jails are not designed to rehabilitate but to contain and punish inmates, once you enter the system, one that is not designed to protect the inmate but to encourage antisocial behavior among inmates as part of the punishment. We, as a society, shouldn't expect anything but their deterioration as persons. Anyone that believes that rehabilitation can arise from these conditions, is a fool or it's lying to himself out fear that those in the inside will be out on the street one day, and the only thing that jail has done is select and prepare the worst of them, "survival of the fittest".