Felon (2008)

A loving famil man with a promising future loses everything when he accidentlly kills the burglar who broke into his home. Convicted of involuntary manslaughter he is sentenced to spend the next 3 years inside a maximum security facility where the rules of society no longer apply. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/27/2009 Starring: Stephen Dorff Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: Ric Roman Waugh Product Description

Good movie but......

Will somebody please explain to me why movies HAVE to be made with that distracting camera movements.
The movie itself was good but I literally get "sea-sick" with all that ridiculous camera swaying. They insist on swinging the cameras from face to 1/2 face to top of heads and then back to 1/2 faces, etc.....
WHY DO THEY INSIST ON DOING THAT!
It adds NOTHING to the film and is very distracting. November 25, 2008

Surprisingly great

Felon is one of those little direct-to-DVD gems that is so rare an occurance. The always underrated Stephen Dorff stars as Wade Porter, a hardworking family man who accidentally kills a burglar outside his home. After being sentenced for involuntary manslaughter, Wade finds himself locked up in a violent prison run by the sadistic Lt. Jackson (Lost and Oz vet Harold Perrineau) who makes the prisoners of his wing frequently fight each other, and also constantly makes things harder to deal with for Wade. Wade also gets a new cellmate in the form of famous mass murderer John Smith (Val Kilmer), who becomes an unlikely ally of Wade's. Sometimes brutal in it's violence, Felon is from former stuntman turned writer/director Ric Roman Waugh, and the film barely pulls any punches. Dorff is good, but the real stars of the show are Perrineau and Kilmer; both of whom are simply spectacular in their roles. If there's any flaws to Felon, it's that the conclusion wraps things up a little too tidy, but for what it is, Felon is surprisingly great. Also featuring 24's Marisol Nichols, Sam Shepard, Nick Chinlund, and Anne Archer. September 30, 2008

Travesty That This Never Saw A Full Release!

While it may never achieve the transcendent status that Shawshank Redemption has (nor should it), this is still a taut, well directed, well scripted, and well acted prison drama. Will definitely be keeping an eye on this writer/director, and hope the lack of full release despite positive reviews, won't keep him from getting future projects financed. September 25, 2008

'Prison desensitizes you'

Writer/Director Ric Roman Waugh may not have a large number of completed films under his stuntman belt, but if FELON is any indication of the quality of work we can expect from him, it seems he has a solid future. There are many films about prison life and prison breaks that keep coming down the pike, but few of them have the quality of being character studies of how prison affects the minds and lives of both those incarcerated and those on the outside who must deal with the realities both concurrent and future of living in the shadow of ultimate effects of prison experiences. FELON is a strong character-based prison drama.

Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) is a young man on the rise: he is planning to marry the mother Laura (Marisol Nichols) of his child Michael (Vincent Miller), his small business is finally becoming successful, and his family life is happy. One evening Wade's and Laura's sleep is interrupted by an intruder who steals Wade's wallet, then runs out of the house with Wade chasing him with a baseball bat. One hit with the bat the robber is dead. The police arrive and because of the logistics of the timing of the blow to the robber, Wade is arrested for murder. Unsuccessful attempts to explain the situation eventually lead to Wade's being sentenced to prison and he is sent to a prison run by a sadistic Lt. Jackson (Harold Perrineau) with demons of his own. A famous prisoner John Smith (Val Kilmer) is transferred to the prison and becomes cellmates with Wade. The racial violence between prisoners creates rules and gangs and Wade is caught up in the violence that occurs in the daily 'hour in the yard' experiences, until John shares his knowledge of prison logistics and advises Wade in how to avoid critical issues. The prisoners are not only violent among themselves, but they are also the pawns of the brutally evil Lt. Jackson and his crew who appear to delight in the traumas the prisoners create. It is obvious that the good guy/bad guy line is blurred and in order to survive Wade follows John's wise council to an ending that eventually results in some correction of the evils of the prison situation.

Survival is the key in the cases of many of the characters, including some of the 'good guards' (Nate Parker, Greg Serano), the steadfast Laura, her mother (a small but well defined role for Annie Archer), and for former guard Gordon (Sam Shepard) a friend of John Smith. Dorff and Kilmer provide very strong characterizations as does Perrineau, but without the fairly large cast of 'fellow prisoners' who set the scenes, their overall performances would be less impressive. It is here that Ric Roman Waugh demonstrates his talent for handling the mixture of physical brutality with the fragility of each individual's mind that makes the film work. It is a tough film to watch but it is solid craftsmanship. Grady Harp, September 08 September 21, 2008

Harrowing, Involving Prison Drama

Felon is one of those prison films that makes you pray that you never end up behind bars doing hard time. Filled with violence, intimidation and pathos, it wrings a lot of energy out of you, but makes the payoff worth the effort.

Stephen Dorff is at a good place in life as the film starts. He's the owner of a small construction company planning to expand with a small business loan, and planning his wedding to his live-in girlfriend, with whom he has a young son. One night, he awakes to hear an intruder in his house. He chases the burglar into his front yard, and swings a baseball bat, hitting and killing the burglar. Since the burglar was outside and running away, Dorff is charged with murder.

What happens next is every law-abiding citizen's nightmare. Dorff gets caught up in a prison-gang killing and has time added to his sentence. To make matters worse, his involvement in the killing runs him afoul of the head prison guard (played with gusto by Harold Perrineau from Lost), who amuses himself by making the prisoners fight each other in the yard during recreation time. The only friend Dorff manages to make is his new cellmate, John Smith, played by Val Kilmer, a famous mass-murderer who has been transferred to the prison after his involvement in a prison riot.
Kilmer teaches Dorff the ropes of prison life, but even Kilmer's tutelage can't protect Dorff from the sadistic prison guard captain.

This is a very well-written and well acted movie. Kilmer gives one of his finest performances in years, and Perrineau proves that he's more than capable of playing a hissable villain. Felon is a treat that may be hard going down, but is ultimately satisfying. September 12, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...