Perfect cast and a good story

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Don't waste your time on this movie. Complete dud. Very slow moving with no twists or action. For a prison movie this ranks at the bottom. Poorly planned escape. One of those movies that jumps around to different points in time. Characters are poorly introduced and you know nothing about them. No back stories, little information, unrealistic. Just a low budget poorly acted movie that tries to hard to be "artistic" or "deep" but fails. Decent story but done poorly and made boring.Maybe it plays better overseas and in the UK but any decent film student in HS could beat this movie. I've seen good UK movies before, but can only think of cultural differences on why anyone would like this movie. No action, no suspense, no drama, predictable plot

not a bad film: good atmosphere, cast, acting & OST c/o Leonard Cohen.it bares a resemblance, and even a few lines, to Shawshank Redemption. but then a lot of prison films do now.however, the UK prison depiction was wholly inaccurate. British prisons have had in-cell lighting, kettles & tvs for over a decade. cons have never 'run' a whole prison, ever, anywhere. and the whole hazing/raping aspect - is a purely American phenomenon. and still you call us Brits fags!! also, there aren't any library cards as such, the common currency inside is drugs, tobacco & foodstuffs.also, kat is an African herb, with amphetamine like qualities - as opposed to something you could knock together in an ad-hoc laboratory with oranges & fruit cake.

I enjoyed the movie even though it was a bit slow. I also found British prison English hard to understand at times requiring me to rewind and listen over and over again to attempt to get the dialog.I really liked the historic value of the escapees moving through the tunnels and aqueducts of the London system. During their escape from prison they managed to find their way to an old abandoned "Tube" station used during the German bombings of London during World War II. There are remnants found during that period including an old withered gas mask and other relics of that time long ago forgotten.At the beginning of the war officials had misgivings about the use of tube stations and underground tunnels as public shelters due to disease and the danger on the tracks. But, as history tells us they used the "Tube" in the long run. The English found the "Tube" to be a suitable sanctuary and preferred them over other air raid shelters at that time. Tracks were decommissioned, cots and porta-potties were brought in, and the rivers were reinforced with flood gates and embankments. The "Tube" did have its casualties, the worst being stampede in which 173 were crushed to death by others. In addition, there were many direct hits of the "Tube" during the war which were kept secret until well after the war.

On the surface it looked like being a standard prison break out picture. But come the end one can't help admiring the construction of the film and marvel at how the makers used the cons to con the audience in a wholly satisfying way. The set-up is simple enough, Brian Cox's old lag Frank Perry is mortified to hear that his daughter is mixed up with heavy drugs and death is perhaps one more hit away from her. Desperate to get out of prison to save her, he hatches a plan for escape and enlists some other like minded souls, each with their own special "skill" to see it through. What follows is a twinned inter-cut tale as we witness the escape attempt and the prior motivations leading up to said escape. All building towards what one can rightly expect to be a run of the mill ending so evident in most prison based movies......Directed by Rupert Wyatt, The Escapist thrives on claustrophobic atmosphere and grim prison reality to set the wheels in motion. Filmed at Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, this is a dank place, overcrowded and paint peeling from every wall; and of course there's an array of unsavoury characters just waiting to use violence or sexual proclivities to feather their respective nest. This place alone is reason enough for escape attempts, let alone the reasons put forward for our escaping protagonists. The audio on offer also enhances the mood, the clanking of metal or the rumbling of shuffling boots land in the ear drum with almost tenacious glee. There's also no overdose on dialogue, no filler conversations serving no purpose to the crux of the tale.The cast are (prison) uniformly strong, led by the great and weathered Cox, the roll call of escapees also contains earthy Liam Cunningham, a buffed up Joseph Fiennes, a youthfully fraught Dominic Cooper and black magic gusto from Seu Jorge. While within these walls menace comes from a weaselly Steven Mackintosh and the excellently chilling Damian Lewis as nick daddy Rizza. All in all, The Escapist, if you pardon the pun, is a break out movie two fold. Not just as a story, but also in offering up something different in the genre it belongs too. Much like Brian Cox himself, The Escapist is something of a British treasure. 9/10