User Reviews

This is apparently based on a true story. Cain (Ving Rhames) is in prison. He remembers the incident when his wife was killed in a cross fire with Redfoot, who has now come to the same prison. There are scenes of 2 rival gangs dealing drugs, Cain's son is one of them and he ends up in the same prison. Cain's son doesn't want anything to do with his father who is now participating in a mentoring program for would-be criminals.

The movie is preachy, but the message is weak. Ving Rhames wasn't given an opportunity to display his full acting talents. Robert Patrick made a terrible warden. If the film is supposed to inspire young people to go straight, I believe it has missed its mark and might work as well as "Reefer Madness" did to end marijuana usage.

F-bomb, N-word, brief sex, nudity, fighting, killing, off camera male rape

Easily forgettable movie, filled with every cliche in the book, a ton of violence that doesn't do anything but perpetuate the stereotype that men in prison belong there, that they are indeed caged animals who deserve the circumstances of their life, and that there's no such thing as rehabilitation in prison. I had more hope for the real life prisoners of "Lock Up" and other similar docudramas than I had interest in these characters, major parts played by Ving Rhames and Robert Lasardo, decent actors I knew from better films, playing bitter enemies stuck together behind bars.

If there's a message meant to be felt in this film, why the exploitive nature of several graphic sex scenes and tons of excessive cursing? Obviously there to entice people to watch, in spite of the fact that it deals with Rhames doing his best to keep his son, brought into prison on serious charges, out of trouble and guide him to make changes on his release. It's a sordid film made by sordid minds, ugly in nature and certainly not entertaining. The acting is bland, with Rhames seeming to be walking through many of his scenes barely awake. Not one character worth caring about even to waste 84 minutes of your time on.

I get it, it's a prison movie. Honestly, I'm more put out by the prison inaccuracies than the actual story line. Another gross misrepresentation of the California prison system. It's like they didn't care whatsoever about any detail. What and where is Combs State Prison in Ca? Why would your intake photo say "Combs state prison" with "police dept" under it? They never actually say it's a Ca prison but in the following scene, a mall cop wearing a sloppy blue uniform with a CDCR patch on one sleeve??, drives into a sally port in a Sheriff's van with a state prison/police department inmate?? At this time we are pretending the convict already spent 6-10 months in a county jail receiving his due rewards. If it wasn't for all of the mall cops wearing a CDCR patch on their nasty blue shirts, there would be no other indications during this movie that it was set in a Ca prison mind you. So in the Sally port, there is a guard on a catwalk with a slung M4??? Raise your hand if you have ever seen a Ca prison cop with an Ar/m4 style rifle outside of a CRT or SERT for the really salty dogs. Never gunna happen! Mini 14 is the only deadly force option you will find inside. Maybe a .38 in certain areas back in 2010 when this was filmed. Then you have guards taking bribes like it's part of the job. Placing an un-restrained inmate with a 12 inch knife inside an apparent holding cell with a fully restrained and chained inmate, closing the door and walking away? Again, remove the CDCR patches and you have your own fairytale land to work with and just another bad prison movie but use just one thing that indicates a legitimate state prison affiliation, and you just put that agency on blast. I can't believe it was allowed. I can't believe I watched the entire movie. I can't believe Ving Rhames starred in it.