A simple premise of "A corrupt prison guard becomes involved in a plot to murder a black revolutionary serving time in his prison" so right away you've got a premise of claustrophobic drama . Add "Starring James Wood" and the movie is instantly sold to me no questions asked. Two hours later I felt a feeling of disappointment
As soon as the title sequence starts there's an element of the mis en scene is entirely different from what the premise demands and that is the look and the feel of the movie is something similar to a made for television movie. The rather twee musical score doesn't help either. As soon as Woods character enters the cellblock the unconvincing nature of the film continues. Considering it's a maximum security prison the average library is more noisy. In fact this is the most annoying thing about FAST-WALKING and that is considering there's supposed to be dozens of hard desperate men caged up like animals there's never anything involving background noise and you're aware you're watching a movie
The story itself isn't told well with long segments revolving around Woods corrupt but ultimately stand up prison guard life outside of prison hours. Add to this a cast who never give the impression they're anything more than actors appearing in a film and you can understand why a few of the reviews here from people who have read the source novel were as disappointed as I was
As soon as the title sequence starts there's an element of the mis en scene is entirely different from what the premise demands and that is the look and the feel of the movie is something similar to a made for television movie. The rather twee musical score doesn't help either. As soon as Woods character enters the cellblock the unconvincing nature of the film continues. Considering it's a maximum security prison the average library is more noisy. In fact this is the most annoying thing about FAST-WALKING and that is considering there's supposed to be dozens of hard desperate men caged up like animals there's never anything involving background noise and you're aware you're watching a movie
The story itself isn't told well with long segments revolving around Woods corrupt but ultimately stand up prison guard life outside of prison hours. Add to this a cast who never give the impression they're anything more than actors appearing in a film and you can understand why a few of the reviews here from people who have read the source novel were as disappointed as I was