I love the Prison Genre as it's one of my favorite genres out there. But as much as I love movies like The Shawshank Redemption or TV Shows like Oz and Alcatraz, they all share a common thread by using the same plot points every time. What makes The Last Castle somewhat original is that the prison itself houses Military Cons rather than Civilians. On paper, this is a good concept, but on film it does have some failings.

I'm a huge fan of Robert Redford and James Gandolfini and they each did a good job in their roles. I do like the movie but it is definitely slower paced for the first 2/3 of the film which doesn't help the movie. The entire movie is building up to the 3rd act, which shows how all you need is a brilliant Commander/Strategist (Redford) that can build an army from within to take over the 'Castle' from the Evil Warden (Gandolfini) using primitive weapons to trump superior fire power. I just wish that they actually showed how they constructed said weapons and showed more prep work when putting together their battle plan.

Overall it is a pretty solid movie and definitely worth a Rent if you are like me and enjoy the genre itself.

Sounds like we need a prison movie genre thread in the Writing section...

I know I watched it. Can't recall a thing about though.