I can't say it enough: I never want to go to prison, and I didn't need this movie to make that clear to me.
"Lockdown" is essentially about three friends who were falsely convicted of a crime and sent to prison for it. Once inside the three went three different directions geographically and experientially. The main character, Avery (Richard T. Jones known from "The Wood"), celled up with an older, level-headed, more experienced inmate, Malachi (Clifton Powell). Cashmere (Gabriel Casseus known from "New Jersey Drive"), a drug dealer by trade, hooked up with the prison gangster. Dre (De'Aundre Bonds also known from "The Wood"), a non-criminal friend, was celled up with an Aryan gangbanger. Their divergent paths separated them more than just physically and their prison experiences were likewise wildly different.
Avery was a competitive swimmer looking to land a scholarship at a major university before he landed in prison. It seemed odd to cast a guy who looked thirty-five to play a guy who was supposed to be between nineteen and twenty-two-years-old. He was a victim by association. Even though the guys he was with when he got arrested weren't guilty of the crime they were convicted of, Cashmere's lifestyle is what put them in the precarious position they found themselves in.
The prison scenes, as repulsive as they were, were very real (according to all of my viewing of Nat Geo's "Lockdown" and "Lockdown Raw"), with the exception of Dre being celled up with an Aryan. Prisons and churches are the most segregated institutions in America. As a rule, prisons try to put like with like to avoid unnecessary skirmishes, so it was extremely odd to see the New Mexico prison put a Black man in the same cell as an Aryan.
I could appreciate the prison depiction, though I didn't quite like the legal maneuvering outside the prison. Out in the world Avery had a small team trying to help free him: his girlfriend Krista (Melissa De Sousa), a college scout Charles (Bill Nunn), and a lawyer. Their best shot to get Avery freed was to get the real killer, Broadway (Sticky Fingaz), to admit to the crime. When Krista went to visit Broadway in prison (locked up for an unrelated crime) to plead with him to 'fess up, she got the exact response I would expect in real life. "Kick rocks." He just said it in a more vociferous and profane manner.
The movie, not wanting to exert much effort in the legal department, then went for an easy cop out and had Broadway admit guilt in a suicide note. It was too convenient and not true to character. I much would've preferred that they do the hard work it normally takes to free an innocent man convicted of a crime. It is really hard work and takes years.
"Lockdown" was good within the confines of the prison and sloppy outside. Adding the two opposing integers together it's still a decent movie.
"Lockdown" is essentially about three friends who were falsely convicted of a crime and sent to prison for it. Once inside the three went three different directions geographically and experientially. The main character, Avery (Richard T. Jones known from "The Wood"), celled up with an older, level-headed, more experienced inmate, Malachi (Clifton Powell). Cashmere (Gabriel Casseus known from "New Jersey Drive"), a drug dealer by trade, hooked up with the prison gangster. Dre (De'Aundre Bonds also known from "The Wood"), a non-criminal friend, was celled up with an Aryan gangbanger. Their divergent paths separated them more than just physically and their prison experiences were likewise wildly different.
Avery was a competitive swimmer looking to land a scholarship at a major university before he landed in prison. It seemed odd to cast a guy who looked thirty-five to play a guy who was supposed to be between nineteen and twenty-two-years-old. He was a victim by association. Even though the guys he was with when he got arrested weren't guilty of the crime they were convicted of, Cashmere's lifestyle is what put them in the precarious position they found themselves in.
The prison scenes, as repulsive as they were, were very real (according to all of my viewing of Nat Geo's "Lockdown" and "Lockdown Raw"), with the exception of Dre being celled up with an Aryan. Prisons and churches are the most segregated institutions in America. As a rule, prisons try to put like with like to avoid unnecessary skirmishes, so it was extremely odd to see the New Mexico prison put a Black man in the same cell as an Aryan.
I could appreciate the prison depiction, though I didn't quite like the legal maneuvering outside the prison. Out in the world Avery had a small team trying to help free him: his girlfriend Krista (Melissa De Sousa), a college scout Charles (Bill Nunn), and a lawyer. Their best shot to get Avery freed was to get the real killer, Broadway (Sticky Fingaz), to admit to the crime. When Krista went to visit Broadway in prison (locked up for an unrelated crime) to plead with him to 'fess up, she got the exact response I would expect in real life. "Kick rocks." He just said it in a more vociferous and profane manner.
The movie, not wanting to exert much effort in the legal department, then went for an easy cop out and had Broadway admit guilt in a suicide note. It was too convenient and not true to character. I much would've preferred that they do the hard work it normally takes to free an innocent man convicted of a crime. It is really hard work and takes years.
"Lockdown" was good within the confines of the prison and sloppy outside. Adding the two opposing integers together it's still a decent movie.