Bryan Tull This was filmed by someone with parkinson's and a hand-held camera. I think the premise is great but I lasted all of 10 minutes. It's unbelievable how much the camera shakes! You can imagine but you can't truly grasp it unless you watch this trainwreck. Fortunately, at least one other reviewer feels the same as me.

Richard Dominguez OMG What A Great Movie ... I Never Heard Of It And It Took Me Completely By Surprise ... Although Stephen Dorff Is Excellent In His Role As The A Man Surviving To Get Back To His Family It Is Val Kilmer's Roll As The Anti-Hero That Makes This A Brilliant Movie ... The Movie Closes And I Am Left With A Sadness That Is Contrary To The Type Of Movie That It Is ... And That Is A Testament To The Script ... Hard Yet Loving, Merciful Yet Unforgiving, Guilty Yet Innocent ... Felon Reminds Us That The Only Devils Live In Our Hearts And Minds ... It's Greatest Lesson Is That We Can All Rise Above Who We Are ... Shawshank Redemption Is The Last Time A Prison Film Has Moved Me Like This

NateWatchesCoolMovies Felon is a bitter and tragic prison drama that's packed with wrenching injustice, simmering anger and caged animal violence. Loaded with the kind of tough guy elements which make prison films exciting (check out Lock Up with Stallone), it's also has a tender side brought forth by its extremely thoughtful and well written script, which explores ideas that are both hard to swallow and very sad. Stephen Dorff, a guy who already has the gritty look as soon as he walks into a frame, plays Wade Porter, a simple family man who is just starting out at life along with his wife (Marisol Nichols). Their hopes and dreams turn into a nightmare, however, when a violent intruder breaks into their home one night. Wade strikes out in defence of himself and his wife, accidentally killing the criminal. Because of the backwards ass way the States run things, he is accused of manslaughter and sentenced to serve out jail time. He is then thrown into the dog pit, literally and figuratively. The penitentiary he is sent to is run by sadistic and corrupt Lt. Jackson (Harold Perrineau) along with his brutal enforcer Sgt. Roberts (Nick Chinlund). Jackson organizes vicious fight club style matches between the inmates, totally off the books and beyond any correctional legislations. Wade is forced to adapt, adjust and bring out monstrous aspects within himself to survive, and make it through his sentence with both his life and humanity intact. It's not an easy turn of events to watch unfold on screen, but necessary in the sense that this probably happens quite frequently to people in real life, and should be seen. The only solace Wade finds is with his gruff, veteran cell mate John Smith (Val Kilmer) a lifer who once went on a massacre of revenge against individuals who murdered his family. Smith is his guiding light, steering him through the hellish carnage of what he's forced to do and helping him to keep the candle of compassion alive within him, never losing sight of what is essential in his fight to claim his life once more. Kilmer is a force that will knock you flat in this role, an old bull with dimming fury in his eyes, a man with a bloody history that has forged the weary dog we see in the film. Late in the film he has an extended monologue to Wade, giving him both blessing and advice with some of the most truthful and affecting gravity Kilmer has showed in his career. The writer/director, who appears to be primarily a stuntman, should be commended for such a script, that could have easily been a straight up prison flick without the pathos that drips off its heartstrings. We as an audience view this painfully and prey nothing like this ever happens to us or anyone we know, hoping to see a light of hope at the end of the dark tunnel for Wade. I won't spoil it, but it's worth the hit that your emotions will take while watching, and there is hard earned catharsis to be had, and penance for the characters you want to shoot in the face along the way. The extends to brilliant work from Chris Browning, Anne Archer, Nate Parker, Johnny Lewis and a fantastic Sam Shepherd as another seasoned convict. This was correct to video as I recall, which is a crime. It's up there as my favourite prison set film that I've ever seen, a soul bearing piece.

adi_2002 Wade has everything a man could want. A business, a beautiful girlfriend, a son and a house. But everything changes when one night a trespasser enters his house to steal. He tries to defend the property and chases him with a baseball bat outside in the yard where he manages to stop him but unfortunately for him it doesn't survive. Laura is forced to call the police and they condemn Wade to prison. The movie has its good parts and bad. One of the good ones would be like seeing the reality behind the prison the cruel punishment and how it lives there. The bad parts:1. The Lawyer. How Wade got a lawyer from the office and had no one to represent him personally? If you know that you don't have an attorney you don't hit in the head that thief who came over you in the house, you remain inside.2.The amount of money for him to go out on bail. It looked overly large even with two zeros greater than it should be. But as I'm not familiar with the amounts that are required in the U.S.A. for a prisoner to be released, then it is possible to be wrong at this point. 3.I understand that Stephen Dorff is the kind of bad guy after I saw him in Blade and the roles of bad-boy fits good but in this movie after making a few push ups on the edge of the bed was able to beat several prisoners there and may overcome?4. The character played by Val Kilmer after arrive in the same cell with Wade not to see him as more than just sit on the toilet then goes out in so called "backyard" and he supports with the hands against the wall and do a few push ups but none of the inmates doesn't dare to touch him.5. The head of the prison, so is this the way you deal with folks over there? Cast on as dogs so they can be fighting then to shoot them with a gun to stop them and you call the buzzer? What kind of example should give other employees there?Even with some minuses is a good movie but not for anyone.