Craig Fairbrass (Villain, Muscle, Rise of the Footsoldier franchise) is an actor who might lack vary however has an plain display presence. He emits an virtually radioactive glow along with his hulking, jolie-laide physiognomy, amplified by an abraded, East Finish baritone that seldom rises above a menacing whisper. That charisma goes a great distance on this jail drama, written and directed by Ross McCall, which consists of a weary procession of scenes wherein Fairbrass’s longtime convict Steve Mackelson growls, glowers and recites monologues filled with self-serious pauses about jail life and the way onerous he thinks he’s.
All this appears to happen in a single or two rooms in one in all Her Majesty’s institutions the place finances cuts seem to have disadvantaged the cells of lightbulbs. A reasonable quantity of backlighting is equipped by a strip of window excessive in a single black wall. No surprise the supporting officers (SOs) can by no means inform what’s happening. The deprivations additionally prolong to the prisoners’ and help officers’ language, worn again to the stubs of self-expression in order that they’ll solely communicate in jail slang (“tooled up”, “burner”, “peas” and the like) or the phrase “cunt”, which on this world is so ubiquitous it’s virtually a pronoun.
The monotony will get damaged up a bit by a subplot about Steve’s cellmate Marcus (Stephen Odubola), a younger man in for a seven-year stretch whom he begrudgingly protects from different criminals who’re satisfied he’s an informer. In the meantime, Steve weighs up whether or not to simply accept a request to satisfy his daughter, who was solely a bit woman when he went away for killing her mom and her lover. Supporting performers Jason Flemyng and Ulrich Thomsen carry their angular cheekbones to the social gathering to fill out the lineup of gaunt, dead-eyed males, whereas Rosie Sheehy is superb within the climactic scene as Steve’s daughter. The over-forceful musical rating gained’t assist viewers already straining to grasp what the hell is happening, however the chthonic environment is oddly mesmerising, maybe as a result of – like a jail sentence – it wears you down finally.
