Another from director David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water (2016), Relay (2024), Fuze (2025)). Also for Ben Mendelsohn who I've never thought of as particularly physically imposing. Written by Jonathan Asser.
Ultra-violent Jack O'Connell (Sinners (2025)) is fresh outta juvie and the other adult prisoners soon learn that they're in there with him. Father Mendelsohn and group-shrink Rupert Friend try to help him fit in (in incompatible ways) and while we are teased by some signs of character in the calmer scenes everyone is unregulated and underdeveloped throughout. Within this envelope there is some decent work from the actors in supporting roles (David Ajala and Anthony Welsh amongst others). The rapid-fire mumbling made it difficult to follow the nuance (if there was any). Some scenes simply do not work. Mackenzie lent too heavily on the revolving door motif. It is nowhere as absorbing a study of violence or hard time as Adolescence (2025) or A Prophet (2009).
Peter Bradshaw: three stars. Wikipedia. Shot in defunct prisons in Northern Ireland.
