Plot
A troubled and explosively violent teenager is transferred to adult prison where he finally meets his match - a man who also happens to be his father.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 7.5/10 (5,795 voted)
Critic's Score: 77/100
Director: David Mackenzie
Stars: Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn, Rupert Friend
Storyline
A troubled and explosively violent teenager is transferred to adult prison where he finally meets his match - a man who also happens to be his father.
Cast: Jack O'Connell -
Eric
Rupert Friend -
Oliver
Ben Mendelsohn -
Neville
Sam Spruell -
Governor Hayes
David Ajala -
Tyrone
Peter Ferdinando -
Spencer
Anthony Welsh -
Hassan
David Avery -
Ashley
Sian Breckin -
Governor Cardew
Mark Asante -
Denton
Matt Faris -
Officer Eronowitz
Tommy McDonnell -
Officer Self
Ryan McKenna -
O'Sullivan
Ashley Chin -
Ryan
Gershwyn Eustache Jnr -
Des
Filming Locations: Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Based on screenwriter Jonathan Asser's experiences working as a voluntary therapist at HM Prison Wandsworth. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
As I said above, think twice before going to see "Starred Up". I don't
say this because it's a bad film--it is very well made in fact.
However, it's one of the most violent and grim prison films you can
find and it's likely to make many folks depressed watching it. Because
it strives for realism, it is incredibly vicious, there's some
full-frontal nudity and the language is truly prison-like! So, don't
let your kids watch it* and think twice before you watch it as well. If
you think you're up to it, the movie is worth seeing.
When the film begins, Eric (Jack O'Connell) is being processed in to
prison. Exactly what he did to get there isn't ever clear--all you know
is that he did some pretty bad things. However, after calmly walking
through this, it's soon obvious that Eric is NOT your typical prisoner.
It's not because he's so young--prison is full of young punks. However,
he's so violent that even most of the prisoners are soon afraid of him.
He is a boiling cauldron of rage and hate--and almost everything seems
to set him off. Now you'd assume that such a nasty character would soon
get himself killed, but Eric is so mean that he seems destined to
possibly survive incarceration. However, a few of the old-timers are
NOT pleased and it's all a matter of time until he's dead. But there is
an interesting trump card--one of the old timers who practically runs
the place turns out to be Eric's father. What's next? See the film.
My biggest problem with watching this film isn't the violence or
language. A long time ago, in my therapist days, I worked with the
prison population so I wasn't really shocked by all this nastiness. No,
my biggest problem were the accents. I am a bit hard of hearing (my
oldest daughter attributes this to be being 'an old fart'!) and I sure
would have loved some captions. Perhaps when it's released to DVD this
will be an option.
Aside from this, the film is well made and represents prisoners pretty
well. It's sure a grim lot and I could understand folks not wanting to
watch nearly two hours of such hate and anger--but this is how many
folks behave inside prisons. So, if you're looking for realism, you
sure have it with this film. And, although Eric is not a huge guy, Jack
O'Connell does a good job playing this menacing, violent and incredibly
dangerous young man. So, my verdict is that this is a very well made
film....but one that probably won't have a lot of folks wanting to line
up and see it. It is NOT a nice little story like "The Shawshank
Redemption" but is ugly, raw and powerful.
*I normally would not recommend a film like this to kids. However,
perhaps young hoodlums would do well to see what prison is like unless
they decide to make some life changes.
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