Prison Escape

Surviving Inside a Decaying Museum

Without straying too far from formula or stock characters, “The Escapist” shapes a standard prison-break drama into a metaphysical study of freedom and reparation.
Set in a grim London institution (played to perfection by Kilmainham Jail in Ireland), the movie centers on Frank (Brian Cox), an aging lifer with a perilously drug-addicted daughter. Circling Frank are the usual suspects — the vulnerable new cellmate (Dominic Cooper), the resident psychopath (Steven Mackintosh), the ruthless king con (Damian Lewis) — but the stereotypes are beside the point: “The Escapist” has loftier goals than simply getting its characters from pokey to pavement. [...]

di Jeannette Catsoulis, articolo completo (1439 caratteri spazi inclusi) su The New York Times 3 April 2009