7.0

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.