19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.
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An emotionally driven film. The storyline is unpredictable, but it left a lot of important questions open. That is why gave it only 7 star. There is a lot of violence in the movie, but it takes place in a prison environment so I do would rather label it "drama" than an action movie.
Eric Love (Jack O'Connell) is a violent juvenile who gets transferred to the adult prison or Starred Up. The first thing he does upon getting into his cell is to make a shiv. He mistakenly knocks out another prisoner and then attacks the guards in the subsequent mêlée. His absentee father Neville (Ben Mendelsohn) tries to calm him down so that he can get treated by therapist Oliver Baumer (Rupert Friend).This movie isn't big on expositions. It's very raw and unpredictable. It's also not big on pronunciation and the accent can be a little thick. Honestly, I don't think I would get the father son relationship without reading it in the description and some of the characters are confusing. I can't follow everybody but Jack O'Connell shows good command of the screen even against great fellow actors. He is a promising newcomer after a stint on Skins. He could have an interesting career.
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
I thought about giving it a ten, but then the ending and throughout the film we do not get the informations about what happened between the father and the son which I think is important for the understanding of the whole movie and the relationship between them.All the actors are doing great. Everyone seemed very believable. The camera work is good also. I had the feeling of being present there all time.The young mr Love is really great in his role. I did not see any of his movies before, but after this one, will pay attention more to his roles.All in all, really good one!
