Hey folks, Harry here... Well no matter what Dignan says, I'm looking forward to this one... I'm going to attempt hitting my first press screening since my back injury to catch this one.... I know, testy... risky.... scary... but ya know, committing to the endeavor is the big step... the rest is merely the tumble to failure my inner demons tell me. Hehehe... just kidding. I love Robert Redford (the actor) quite a bit in film.... just bought my theatrical trailer to 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR off Ebay tonight.... He's great in that. Any way, here's the latest till I hopefully chime in... I'm tired of laying on the sidelines... Time to take a few downs... Here's Dignan...
Greetings again from the Mile High City Harry,
After thoroughly enjoying Rod Lurie's previous films, The Contender, and the highly underrated, Deterrence, I am wondering how he turned in something like the mediocre, The Last Castle.
Robert Redford plays court martialed General Irwin who, judging from the awe the prisoners and guards have toward him, is Stormin' Norman, Colin Powell, and Ollie North all rolled into one. A man who has fought bravely for his country and led men in Viet Nam, on up to Bosnia. Although we never really get the whole story of why he has been incarcerated, you get the sense he was a fall guy.
He enters the military prison of Colonel Winter, played by James Gandolfini. Even Winter is excited to meet Irwin, but within moments the former general has managed to hurt his feelings, which turns the Colonel to anger and resentment toward this man. The men of the prison tell Irwin stories of the warden's cruelty, and want him to do...well, something. He, of course, wants to just serve his time, but as you can guess, he ends up getting involved in the plight of the poor poor prisoners!
Is this a prison film, a military drama, an action piece? It's trying to be too much I think and just ends up falling flat. There's nothing really new here. I saw elements of Shawshank Redemption, Lockup, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Cool Hand Luke. It's almost set up like a POW camp film, where we're supposed to root for these guys to escape. It can be fun to root for the bad guy in films, but here, none of the inmates are that bad. It seems like they're all REALLY nice guys who just screwed up once. At one point, Col. Winter makes the remark, that as soon as he thinks one of these guys is wrongly accused, or not so bad, he pulls out their file, and reminds himself why they're there. The audience doesn't get that chance. We don't really see their dark side. Where are the guys from OZ hiding?! An entire prison and there aren't any total bad asses?
I think the one moment in the film that bugged me the most was when two of the men stage a fight during dinner, luring the guards outside. This leaves Redford free to deliver a rousing speech to his fellow inmates, SINCE THERE ARE NO GUARDS AROUND! An entire mess hall filled with criminals, and not one guard stays behind?! Riiiiight.
I had read that Gandolfini was nervous about pulling off this part. I can see why. Not that he's bad in it, I just couldn't buy him in the part of this Colonel. He's the bad guy of the film, but he has none of the menace that someone like Gene Hackman has when playing a part like this. Same with Redford. While he did okay too, I kept thinking this was more a part Bruce Willis or Clint Eastwood would play. Damn, cast Robert Forster instead of Robert Redford! The supporting cast was very good, though some of them were just wasted, such as Delroy Lindo and blink-and-you-miss-her Robin Wright. Clifton Collins Jr., is racking up an impressive resume of films, and I thought he turned in a good performance with the part he had. Mark Ruffalo, looking like Chris Sarandon's little brother, also good. One actor I really liked in this, but didn't catch his name, is a bear of a man, who at one point picks on Clifton's character. This guy was just interesting, and out of all the prisoners, he looked like he could really be one! Like Danny Trejo, he just looks tough!
The trailers for this make it look like an action film, but these are all scenes from the climax, and while there are some cool bits, it doesn't make up for the rest of the movie. It's kind of like a sparkler--it's a little boring, but you mess around with it, you have the "wahoo" moment, and then it goes out. You'd rather be lighting black cats or roman candles!
Hopefully I'll find better fare at the Denver International Film Festival happening this week!
Dignan
