Felonby Anonymous

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

September 21, 2008: Writer/Director Ric Roman Waugh may not have a large number of completed films under his stuntman belt, but if FELON is any indication of the quality of work we can expect from him, it seems he has a solid future. There are many films about prison life and prison breaks that keep coming down the pike, but few of them have the quality of being character studies of how prison affects the minds and lives of both those incarcerated and those on the outside who must deal with the realities both concurrent and future of living in the shadow of ultimate effects of prison experiences. FELON is a strong character-based prison drama. Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) is a young man on the rise: he is planning to marry the mother Laura (Marisol Nichols) of his child Michael (Vincent Miller), his small business is finally becoming successful, and his family life is happy. One evening Wade's and Laura's sleep is interrupted by an intruder who steals Wade's wallet, then runs out of the house with Wade chasing him with a baseball bat. One hit with the bat the robber is dead. The police arrive and because of the logistics of the timing of the blow to the robber, Wade is arrested for murder. Unsuccessful attempts to explain the situation eventually lead to Wade's being sentenced to prison and he is sent to a prison run by a sadistic Lt. Jackson (Harold Perrineau) with demons of his own. A famous prisoner John Smith (Val Kilmer) is transferred to the prison and becomes cellmates with Wade. The racial violence between prisoners creates rules and gangs and Wade is caught up in the violence that occurs in the daily 'hour in the yard' experiences, until John shares his knowledge of prison logistics and advises Wade in how to avoid critical issues. The prisoners are not only violent among themselves, but they are also the pawns of the brutally evil Lt. Jackson and his crew who appear to delight in the traumas the prisoners create. It is obvious that the good guy/bad guy line is blurred and in order to survive Wade follows John's wise council to an ending that eventually results in some correction of the evils of the prison situation. Survival is the key in the cases of many of the characters, including some of the 'good guards' (Nate Parker, Greg Serano), the steadfast Laura, her mother (a small but well defined role for Annie Archer), and for former guard Gordon (Sam Shepard) a friend of John Smith. Dorff and Kilmer provide very strong characterizations as does Perrineau, but without the fairly large cast of 'fellow prisoners' who set the scenes, their overall performances would be less impressive. It is here that Ric Roman Waugh demonstrates his talent for handling the mixture of physical brutality with the fragility of each individual's mind that makes the film work. It is a tough film to watch but it is solid craftsmanship. Grady Harp

This review was written about the DVD Wide Screen edition.