Wasteman | Film Review

 

As he gets closer to finally being released from prison, Taylor (David Jonsson) is given a new cellmate (Tom Blyth) that puts everything he's worked for in danger.

I tend to quite like prison dramas, but a few of the ones I've seen have either hit me so deeply or been so average that it's not a genre I go back to with excitement. So I went into this one with a bit of trepidation.

I liked this film, but I did think it would be a bit better than it was.

One thing that stood out immediately was the found footage element. These clips were great and really added to the realism of the situation.

From their first moments on screen together there was great chemistry between the leads. Jonsson and Blyth played off of each other really well and their relationship felt authentic. And they were both great in these roles.

That being said, all of the actors felt authentic and added to the overall tone really well.

The movie is shot in a unique way, there were so many interesting angles and points of view.

The characters are fascinating just in this 90-minute snapshot. It would have been great to get to know more about them, and to see a bit into their pasts. Of course that's not what the movie is about, but it might have helped to develop them a  bit more.

This was a hard, sometime uncomfortable watch that comes with a lot of prison dramas. It's brutal and raw, a lot of which is down to the writing.

But as much as that's how you feel while watching, once the credits roll it's not particularly memorable, which is a real shame. I think that may be because, as good as most aspects of the film are, this isn't anything we haven't seen before.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, but it's not one I'll probably think or talk about again once this review is posted.

7/10