Felon

I've decided since I am back up at the moment (believe you me, I am holding my breath on this one) that I would not only let you in on another little secret about me, but write a review of a movie in a genre I have not yet broached: Action. That's right: Action. Because so much of me wants to really wail on my host server in a zombified frenzied sort of way.... and I can't.

And the little secret about me?? I f'n love action flicks! I love the blood and the bullets and the fighting. I think I might have a sadistic side I have yet to embrace - perhaps I don't want to embrace. And perhaps we all walk the fine line between what is right and what is wrong.

So knowing my hubby would not want to be inundated with zombies and mutant animals gone wild this weekend, I rented us a couple of action flicks that I thought looked entertaining. One of those action flicks is a movie called Felon.

Felon

Stephen Dorff in all his hot and sexy glory plays Wade Porter: fiance and father who entered a world of violence, hatred, and deceit that he never could have imagined when he accidentally killed an intruder of his family's home. Found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, he is given 3 years in a high security prison. He could have never known his future would be so severely fucked.

But the other prisoners are only half of his problem, because the penile system in Felon is not out for justice; not the moral kind anyway. The justice they want is bloodshed-and force the inmates to partake in a type of  "yard/cage fight," sometimes to the death, only to enact their own violence however they deem fit to end it. The leader of this justice system is Lt. Jackson (played by Harold Perrineau of OZ and LOST fame), a ruthless blood thirsty guard inside the prison walls, and a respected community minded family man on the outside.

Not to mention there is the usual "gangs" formed within jails -kill or be killed, and hope you choose the right side. Hope the right side wants you. Luckily for Wade he ends up sharing a cell with John Smith (played by Val Kilmer who I did NOT recognize at all! Needless to say the days of Top Gun are loonnnngggg gone for him!)

John Smith is a lifer whose wife and daughter were brutally killed years before. His life sentences were due to the fact that he killed his family's killers along with their entire family, thereby ending their "bloodlines"..... John ends up giving Wade tips for survival, and they end up developing a somewhat weird but deep friendship.

Felon shows, though not in lengthy detail, the effects of Wade's prison term on his strained relationship with his fiance and child, but focuses more so on the horrors of our penile system and that atrocities that exist but go ignored. These horrors are portrayed in a very brutal, realistic and bloody manner that made me angry, sad, and fearful of what realities exist that we as a society are totally clueless to.

Though fictional, Felon is based on a California State Prison that in the 90's was exposed as having had an eight year history where corrections officers had, unknowingly to anyone who actually cared, shot and or killed more inmates than any other prison in the US.

The Los Angeles Times and TV's 60 Minutes expose claimed that guards of this prison had arranged fights in "the yard" where inmates would fight til death while the guards placed bets. It was also claimed that these same guards would randomly open fire on the battling inmates just for the sport of it. Eight corrections officers were indicted for these events, however they were eventually acquitted of all the charges.

Now I don't know about you guys, but this movie infuriated me! Firstly, because a man was sentenced to prison for defending his family. Now my anger at this part of the movie is not justified. Why? Because the bad guy was LEAVING, without hurting anyone, and Wade chased him out of the house into the yard and brained him with a bat.

So yeh, I would be totally wanting to bash his brains in as well, but if the bad guy is running away, do I really have the right to kill him? It's not self defense at that point. It's homicide. Lesson learned? If you kill a guy, make sure he is on your property. If not, made damned sure you drag him onto your property, otherwise the consequence will be dire!

This movie is definitely a must see, and if the claims about it being based on an actual prison are true, then it is also appalling. I am all for justice and capital punishment, but not in a barbaric, sadistic manner of the men and woman who are trusted to guard them.

I am sure there is many an arguement where some feel that certain felons deserve whatever vile acts are inflicted upon them. I can honestly say I too have voiced similiar opinions. But if that be the case, then why have prison guards? Why create order? Why not just leave the felons captive within prison walls to kill or be killed without any consequence?

Director and writer Ric Roman Waugh probed in great depth for the gritty realistic world of prison life and for me, anyway, seemed to capture it. Much like the HBO series OZ, Felon angered and saddened me, and left me thinking about the events of the movie long after the credits stopped rolling.

Felon is rated R for brutal violence, pervasive language and brief nudity, although the nudity is nothing more than a gratuitious boob shot. I think it's pretty much a requirement for dude flicks.