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Stoic
Prison movies are sometimes difficult to
succeed with the viewer and if you don’t have the right characters or
story, many end up as just another clichéd prison movie where one guy
craps in another man’s cell and before you know it, a riot breaks out.
Stoic does feature a little of this
however is more of a brutal murder mystery and revolves around four
inmates who are considered “friends”. Unfortunately when a card game
goes horribly wrong between them, one of them ends up dead which seems
to be an apparent suicide or was it? Obviously
more was at stake here than just a humble suicide of one
inmate. This is where the journey of Stoic begins, was this inmate
murdered by his friends as the interrogation begins between "friends".
What I enjoyed about Stoic was the
presentation of the movie which was told in an almost documentary style
of presentation with interviews added to this film. It does add an
element of realism to the characters and when murder is brought into the
equation, these three men slowly begin to turn.
What
I didn’t like about Stoic was the over the top violence that brings one
particular scene to my mind that was quite brutal which is more of the
director noting how different incarceration is to freedom. Another part
were the characters and unfortunately some of these were not likable at
all and the term psychopath comes to mind.
At times Stoic succeeds but at other
times, it’s just another prison movie filled with excessive violence and
colourful language. The movie does get a pass but just be warned, if
graphic violence offends, you may want to turn away.
On DVD, it supports 16:9 widescreen with
good video quality and Dolby Digital 5.1 with no standout “sound”
moments. There is commentary by director Boll, deleted scenes and even a
making of that is not bad for a relatively unknown flick. Definitely one
to investigate on a quiet night in. |
