Agreed. Dark as hell. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is such a disgusting good actor. Very under rated. I hope this film will bring him some more attention. People will see him differently from Game of Thrones after watching this one. The pacing was abit slow but worked with the films themes. Acting again, top notch. I still dont understand why he !!!!SPOILERS!!!!

Gave the extra guns up at the end? Seemed like he was just tired of being in the game. But now hes the leader so it seems pretty counter productive. I do understand why he killed the beast, no one threatens his family, he knew what they were capable of and decided to take care of business. I like how he saved the kid from Iraq at the end, pretty merciful.

@OddRob said:

!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gave the extra guns up at the end? Seemed like he was just tired of being in the game. But now hes the leader so it seems pretty counter productive. I do understand why he killed the beast, no one threatens his family, he knew what they were capable of and decided to take care of business. I like how he saved the kid from Iraq at the end, pretty merciful.

Yea, that was a bit of a mystery about gifting the location of the guns. All I could think of is that he didn't want that case and it's attention coming back to bite him, I'm not happy with that excuse, but it's all I could think of. I liked that he saved the kid too, that kid was way out of his depth.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau put in one hell of a performance indeed, I didn't know that he had that in him. That GoT's gig hasn't and doesn't give him anything substantial to work with hopefully we'll see him in more diverse roles in the future.

Just watched last night. I love the prison movie Genre. this movie is right up there with the best of them along with Felon, American Me and American History X. It is everything you expect. Raw and uninhibited in the way prison is. The way race and politics are played out. You feel so bad for his character. he is a model citizen in the real world and the unfortunate accident and circumstance that put him there is sad. Having to clique up with someone just to survive and then once you are in you can't get out.

Have only seen Nickolaj Coster Waldau in Game of Thrones which he does a fine job in, but Jamie Lannister is really one dimensional. Talk about getting a meaty role here and doing something with it. I was blown away at his transformation.

and in a bit of connectivity to another Prison movie, Chris Browning who play Redwood in Shot Caller played a similar role as AB Leader Danny Sampson in Felon. Identical look down to the mustache. When I first saw him I wondered if it would be the same character. Dude has a terrifying look to him.

And now I just realized Felon and Shot Caller had same director in Rick Roman Waugh. No wonder they are both so similar

OT: Just caught another film in the same raw and violent vein as Shot Caller, not as budgeted and not a prison flick(biker gang'ish), but damn it gets just as heavy and even more tense. It's underrated, probably by people that didn't see it through as it starts a bit rough and it's quite dark, but it's definitely worth checking out, it's called My Father Die(2016) Imdb:

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4242100/?ref_=tt_rec_tti]

It's reviews are pretty accurate there, it's definitely one crazy ass flick. The writer/director Sean Brosnan's first film though you wouldn't guess it.

I think ill check out My Father Die tonight. Thanks for the recommendation.

@ThrillKillz said:

...but aside from that the change in the man, the man before and the man after isn't unusual. Prison is a balancing act at best, this dude went straight to animal mode and got stuck there, something not uncommon which again lends to the film's realism.

I struggled with this - I mean he killed people so easily. I just can't even think about stabbing someone like that - like how do you spend 40 odd years of your life living as a normal human being, but after a few months of being inside you can suddenly become a very efficient killer?

@SySnootles said:

@ThrillKillz said:

...but aside from that the change in the man, the man before and the man after isn't unusual. Prison is a balancing act at best, this dude went straight to animal mode and got stuck there, something not uncommon which again lends to the film's realism.

I struggled with this - I mean he killed people so easily. I just can't even think about stabbing someone like that - like how do you spend 40 odd years of your life living as a normal human being, but after a few months of being inside you can suddenly become a very efficient killer?

I know it may be tough to understand it, you kind of almost have to have been in such an environment to get it. It's complex and simple at the same time depending on an individual's character and predicament. Basically it's a choice, if you find yourself in a situation, you're either doing the fvcking or you're the one getting fvcked. You may need to rely on pure animalistic rage or be sharp enough intellectually to negotiate your way through situations. Say me for example, I'm a friendly, caring and generally a good easy going dude that would go out of my way to help a stranger in need, but put me in a violent prison and I'll bite the jugular vein out of your neck if need be or worse especially if disrespected, then forget it the dog's off the leash. I would think that most people would kill to avoid being raped, that's IF they even had the chance to and they weren't being held down by numerous people. The best way to NOT be a target is to never, ever take sh!t from anyone, if you do you're opening the door, or should I say the back door,lol.

We're all capable of quickly becoming a very efficient killer when your ass is literally on the line, we all have animalistic instincts, but society represses these and we're raised and taught how to act , what good and bad is ect. and the majority of people stick to the "normal" way we are expected to behave. I'm not saying that his progression in the film is typical, unfortunate really, but it certainly does happen. Just like in the event of an apocalypse portrayed in various films and TV series, people change, turn on each other and kill if necessary just for water and food for their family.

I found it akin to Walt in Breaking bad in some ways. I never really felt at ease with Walt's extreme transformation into scary drug kingpin and all round bad guy. I totally get what you are saying - I'd be terrified in that kind of prison and probably die in about 10 mins. I do feel that under his cool businessman exterior, something must have been simmering away. We ddn't see much of his normal life to know, but they say that Civilization is two meals and twenty-four hours away from barbarism, and it reminds me of that in a way... perhaps we're all just one red light and car crash away from shanking someone in a prison riot?!

@SySnootles said:

I found it akin to Walt in Breaking bad in some ways. I never really felt at ease with Walt's extreme transformation into scary drug kingpin and all round bad guy. I totally get what you are saying - I'd be terrified in that kind of prison and probably die in about 10 mins. I do feel that under his cool businessman exterior, something must have been simmering away. We ddn't see much of his normal life to know, but they say that Civilization is two meals and twenty-four hours away from barbarism, and it reminds me of that in a way... perhaps we're all just one red light and car crash away from shanking someone in a prison riot?!

After just watching this, I do agree with you...i found it quite implausible that this clean cut, well-to-do guy transformed into this untouchable hard man after 1 day and 1 fight in prison. I get what others are saying about it happened over a period of 7 years, but I just felt there wasn't enough build up.

If they had an extra 30mins to show more of his normal life before the car crash, as you said, and how he already had these "gang leader" traits...i dunno, I'd have bought his character more. Even getting him used to prison life more by having him get beaten up a few times and learning how to survive. Just seemed that beating up one black guy was enough to prove to everyone he was a hard man (maybe it is??)...