Touches You

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

Blistering performances.

Having loved David Mackenzie's latest film 2016's 'Hell or High Water' and being recommended another critically acclaimed film 'Starred Up', via reviews for 'Hell or High Water' praising some of Mackenzie's previous work, 'Starred Up' fascinated me from the get go and didn't disappoint.It is a near-instant classic, though its hard-hitting and brutally violent nature won't appeal to everybody, and British prison drama doesn't get much better than 'Starred Up'. What seems familiar, and it doesn't exactly tread new ground, avoids being clichéd. To me, the only thing that doesn't quite work is that some of the prison justice elements is a little overcooked. Otherwise, 'Starred Up' is terrific.'Starred Up' looks stylish and enhances the setting's realistic queasiness and toughness. The music is suitably haunting, without overdoing or underplaying it.Mackenzie directs with darkly compelling realism and plays a large part in making the father-son relationship so gripping and dynamic, creating an environment so dehumanising and harrowing and delving into the film's sociological tone.The script is taut, sharp and smart, authentic in its abrasiveness yet with welcome and never misplaced humour and never forced pathos. And life in prison has rarely been depicted with the amount of clarity shown here. The storytelling really hits hard in a gritty and unashamedly uncompromising fashion, develops the remarkably complex characters beautifully and never holds back or take any prisoners, while bleak and violent it's effective in showing prison life's brutality and never trivialising it.Jack O'Connell's anti-hero is tragically troubled while showing sympathetic and powerful sides, seamlessly commanding the screen in a powerhouse lead performance. His performance is matched brilliantly by the coldly intense one of Ben Mendelssohn. Their complex characters and dynamic chemistry dominate the film and outstandingly. Rupert Friend is just as strong.Overall, not quite perfect but absolutely wonderful. Just know what you're letting yourself in for. 9/10 Bethany Cox

***spoiler**This movie proves that Jack O'Connell is a rising star that is going to go super nova with the right role at any minute. As a new fan of his I've started watching his films and each get better and better. From beginning to end this movie was hard to watch yet hard to take your eyes away from the screen. You are drawn to Eric Love (O'Connell) from the very beginning. From understanding a 19 year old sent to an adult prison 2 years earlier than normal you know he's going to be up against the bad and the worst of humanity. Then to find out his father is in the same cell block adds another layer of intrigue and worry. He portrays "crazy" to survive but you wonder if he just might be a bit crazy. With a good taste of the movie Bronson staring Tom Hardy, I can see where this star is going. I wish more of his movies were on this side of the pond. This movie is a fast paced, action packed emotional ride. Hold on tight and fall in love with Jack O'Connell.

That being said, it was pretty good. i have had numerous friends come up to me saying this film was the shittiest movie they have ever seen.To be honest I kind of agreed with them. At the time when i just finished watching Starred Up i couldn't help but hate it. Now weeks have passed and i can't stop thinking about it. I felt the aftershock of this movie was more powerful than the movie itself. It is indeed a PRISON DRAMA so don't expect something in the midst of Prison Break. All in all for a prison drama it was good, as a regular Saturday night movie you're about to watch with your girlfriend .... not so much. The performances were incredible. Jack O'Connell portrays yet another bad boy character and so far he has never failed to amuse me... Acting wise this movie is a 10/10 , Prison drama 7/10 , Saturday night movie 4/10

Don't know where all the good reviews came from for this bucket of..... The plot is thin and they attempt to shore it up with some of the least realistic fight scenes I have ever seen. Not to mention the incredibly unrealistic hanging. I grow really tired of film makers not even bothering to do any research to make a film at least credible. There's artistic license and then there is plain fantasy. You can't identify with any of the characters and if all prisons were like this we would be saving millions cause all the inmates would be dead in a couple of years.This film just seems to be one long advert for the death penalty.Save yourself the trouble