Another prison escape film ... it's OK, but it's very depressing and has little depth
Here's my breakdown:
STORY: Normally, I don't watch films where the story includes the institutional brutality of others (yes, that's a wide net).
For this reason alone, this story is difficult to watch, but that's not the only reason. The story provides no context for its characters, e.g. Who are they, why are they there, history, etc.
This omission (yes, it's a usually failure) makes for feeling disinterested in the characters, and eventually in the story. The story is protracted (stretched out) by delivering the same situations repeatedly, which only made me feel frustrated with the writing.
For these reasons, I must assume the writers were either immature or lacked the foresight and value of character depth.
ACTING: Solid acting, but McQueen and Hoffman both play to their own personas, which didn't impress me.
ENTERTAINMENT: Moderate value
TEMPO: Mix of violence and conversation means it tends to hobble, but stays on the same course throughout
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nice
MUSIC / SOUND: OK
DIRECTING / WRITING: Director: Most of Schaffner's work is TV, and you should know I have a very low opinion of TV-people. But he did direct: "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and "Patton" (1970), which are both good films. Otherwise, I thought the directing here was well-done.
Writers: Trumbo has quite a resume, and includes a number a fine films, e.g. "Roman Holiday " (1953), but team writer Semple might not have been equipped considering most of his work was for TV. This story isn't bad writing, per se, but there's TV-influence here that likely deflated the story for me.
Is it a good film? It's OK
Should you watch this once? Maybe, but I would not recommend or seek this out again.
Rating: 7.3.
Here's my breakdown:
STORY: Normally, I don't watch films where the story includes the institutional brutality of others (yes, that's a wide net).
For this reason alone, this story is difficult to watch, but that's not the only reason. The story provides no context for its characters, e.g. Who are they, why are they there, history, etc.
This omission (yes, it's a usually failure) makes for feeling disinterested in the characters, and eventually in the story. The story is protracted (stretched out) by delivering the same situations repeatedly, which only made me feel frustrated with the writing.
For these reasons, I must assume the writers were either immature or lacked the foresight and value of character depth.
ACTING: Solid acting, but McQueen and Hoffman both play to their own personas, which didn't impress me.
ENTERTAINMENT: Moderate value
TEMPO: Mix of violence and conversation means it tends to hobble, but stays on the same course throughout
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nice
MUSIC / SOUND: OK
DIRECTING / WRITING: Director: Most of Schaffner's work is TV, and you should know I have a very low opinion of TV-people. But he did direct: "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and "Patton" (1970), which are both good films. Otherwise, I thought the directing here was well-done.
Writers: Trumbo has quite a resume, and includes a number a fine films, e.g. "Roman Holiday " (1953), but team writer Semple might not have been equipped considering most of his work was for TV. This story isn't bad writing, per se, but there's TV-influence here that likely deflated the story for me.
Is it a good film? It's OK
Should you watch this once? Maybe, but I would not recommend or seek this out again.
Rating: 7.3.