Murder in the First

Rating:
Summary: I don't really have a subject
Review: Well lets see. I have seen many Kevin Bacon movies. "The River Wild" "Stir Of Echos" the list goes on and on. This movie Murder in the first was one of his best. The movie is completely disturbing. the first 30 minutes of the movie is completely disturbing. Young (Bacon) is jailed for stealing $5 to help his sister and him live. He is sent to Alcatraz. and sent into solitary confinement IMMEDIATELY. he gets out 3 years and 2 months later after being tortured and abused with blackjacks and whips. (I think that bacon was a little retarded in the movie but I am not too sure) The ending was great. When he finally stood up to the warden and when he was walking back to solitary right after he told the warden off. I felt shivers go down my spine! Itz a good movie

Rating:
Summary: I don't really have a subject
Review: Well lets see. I have seen many Kevin Bacon movies. "The River Wild" "Stir Of Echos" the list goes on and on. This movie Murder in the first was one of his best. The movie is completely disturbing. the first 30 minutes of the movie is completely disturbing. Young (Bacon) is jailed for stealing $5 to help his sister and him live. He is sent to Alcatraz. and sent into solitary confinement IMMEDIATELY. he gets out 3 years and 2 months later after being tortured and abused with blackjacks and whips. (I think that bacon was a little retarded in the movie but I am not too sure) The ending was great. When he finally stood up to the warden and when he was walking back to solitary right after he told the warden off. I felt shivers go down my spine! Itz a good movie

Rating:
Summary: Uplifting
Review: When we are young we believe that right will win. As we grow older we realize that it doesn't just happen and more often than not it doesn't. I am neither competent to evaluate the art nor the cinematography. But this story made me remember that somethings are worth fighting for. It was a great experience.

Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXCELLENT MOVIE. Well worth watching again and again. Truely a masterpiece of our time. I can't say enough about this movie, other than to own it..

Rating:
Summary: Sad, But Not Particularly Gripping
Review: [I actually give this film a rating of **1/2]

Man's inhumanity against man is one of the most powerful themes in drama. It is the subject that drives "Murder in the First Degree," a film (supposedly based on real events) that tells the horrifying tale of Henry Young (Kevin Bacon), a man sent to Alcatraz for stealing five dollars.

While serving his time on the Rock, Henry suffers greatly at the hands of the sadistic Assistant Warden (Gary Oldman.) He is tortured, beaten, abused and kept in solitary confinement for three years. When he is finally reintroduced into the general prison population, Henry is so confused and frightened that he does, for him, the unthinkable: he murders another inmate.

Everyone is set for a quick trial (to be followed by an even quicker execution) until Henry's defense attorney, James Stampill (Christian Slater), comes on the scene. He is ready to fight and he will do whatever it takes, even if it means taking on Alcatraz and the entire penal system.

The plot of "Murder" is by no means a new one, nor is it even remotely unpredictable. At every turn, the savvy movie viewer will know what is coming next, even if the characters in the film do not. (The sequence with Stampill and the former prison guard is particularly weak. If he is so smart, how could he not have seen that coming?) The courtroom scenes are okay except when Stampill engages in implausible bouts of histrionics.

All the same, predictability on its own will not necessarily ruin a film. What makes "Murder" watchable are some good performances and Marc Rocco's direction. Prior to this, Rocco directed a few perfectly dreadful films, including "Dream a Little Dream" and "Where the Day Takes You." Here, though, his work is much better. His attempts at imposing a visual style are occasionally obtrusive, but he makes it work often enough to keep things interesting.

The acting by the three principals is fine. Slater is good, although he is too young and inexperienced to give his role the weight it needs. (Please don't try to argue that that is the point, either. I don't buy it.) Bacon does well in the showier part, giving a nicely modulated performance. Oldman has a tendency to go over the top (see "The Professional," for example), but here he is more restrained and his work is better because of it. He also does a perfect job of suppressing his British accent.

The main problem with "Murder" is Dan Gordon's writing, which never rises above the merely ordinary. The plot is familiar, many of the scenes are cliché and the characterizations are weak. The screenplay is certainly adequate, but that is not enough to make a good film.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, But Not Particularly Gripping
Review: [I actually give this film a rating of **1/2]

Man's inhumanity against man is one of the most powerful themes in drama. It is the subject that drives "Murder in the First Degree," a film (supposedly based on real events) that tells the horrifying tale of Henry Young (Kevin Bacon), a man sent to Alcatraz for stealing five dollars.

While serving his time on the Rock, Henry suffers greatly at the hands of the sadistic Assistant Warden (Gary Oldman.) He is tortured, beaten, abused and kept in solitary confinement for three years. When he is finally reintroduced into the general prison population, Henry is so confused and frightened that he does, for him, the unthinkable: he murders another inmate.

Everyone is set for a quick trial (to be followed by an even quicker execution) until Henry's defense attorney, James Stampill (Christian Slater), comes on the scene. He is ready to fight and he will do whatever it takes, even if it means taking on Alcatraz and the entire penal system.

The plot of "Murder" is by no means a new one, nor is it even remotely unpredictable. At every turn, the savvy movie viewer will know what is coming next, even if the characters in the film do not. (The sequence with Stampill and the former prison guard is particularly weak. If he is so smart, how could he not have seen that coming?) The courtroom scenes are okay except when Stampill engages in implausible bouts of histrionics.

All the same, predictability on its own will not necessarily ruin a film. What makes "Murder" watchable are some good performances and Marc Rocco's direction. Prior to this, Rocco directed a few perfectly dreadful films, including "Dream a Little Dream" and "Where the Day Takes You." Here, though, his work is much better. His attempts at imposing a visual style are occasionally obtrusive, but he makes it work often enough to keep things interesting.

The acting by the three principals is fine. Slater is good, although he is too young and inexperienced to give his role the weight it needs. (Please don't try to argue that that is the point, either. I don't buy it.) Bacon does well in the showier part, giving a nicely modulated performance. Oldman has a tendency to go over the top (see "The Professional," for example), but here he is more restrained and his work is better because of it. He also does a perfect job of suppressing his British accent.

The main problem with "Murder" is Dan Gordon's writing, which never rises above the merely ordinary. The plot is familiar, many of the scenes are cliché and the characterizations are weak. The screenplay is certainly adequate, but that is not enough to make a good film.