It’s time for a movie about one of the most dangerous prisons out there. If you land on Alcatraz then it’s all over in most cases. It’s a life term where you may try to find a way to break out but it’s not likely to happen. Of course when you piece together the title with how this is based on true events you may start to think about some things but lets not worry about that for now. Escape is supposed to be impossible.

The film follows a guy named Frank who gets sent to the jail. He’s had a history of escaping from many such prisons over the years but the warden is confident that he’ll break Frank. In this prison he makes the rules after all so whenever Frank starts to get friendly to someone, the Warden will move them away. He allows fights to start so he can punish both prisoners and then he also does random inspections to make sure nothing is being smuggled into the cell. Well, Frank is confident that there has to be a way out and he won’t rest until he pulls this off.

I’ve seen quite a few prison break films in my day and if you count sequences in a film not about that, then add that number up even more. That said, this one has to be a lot more toned down and realistic than those to try not to make you suspend your disbelief too much. So the prison doesn’t have fancy laser barriers or anything like that. It’s basically just a normal prison that is super disciplined but when you think about it, that’s all a prison really needs. You’re in a cell where you can’t easily plan things out with all of the interruptions and what you see is also so narrow that it’s difficult to really map everything out in your head.

Getting out of your cell is just the first part. You have to remember that you’re surrounded by water and have to get past a ton of guards who are all armed while you aren’t. So you need a boat, supplies, and basically a lot of luck on your side. Without that it’s game over. It’s also functionally impossible to do this on your own so you’re going to need some friends. Only problem is that these friends are also crooks and may not be the most trustworthy sort in a pinch. Worst case, one of them will rat you out in the end in the hopes of some kind of reward and then you will really be out of luck.

Now it’s hard to say just how accurate the film is to what happened because even in real life I don’t think we know exactly what happened. It’s why the ending is so vague, did the escapees really survive or did nature take them out? It would be nice to know but I suppose it’s anyone’s guess. The fact that they could break through was the important thing. Now, based on how soon after Alcatraz closed down, I wouldn’t be shocked if things had started to get lax around the place which made the job easier.

When the Warden changes, typically a lot of personnel will change and a ton of protocols will be updated. It’s possible this guy didn’t really know what he was doing and left a lot of openings to be exploited. It does seem like a bit of a stretch to give inmates axes, hammers, and other weapons for construction but it sounds like that’s been the case for a long time so I guess you just roll with it.

Frank does well as the lead character here and plays a large role in making the film entertaining. He’s the kind of guy who always stands up for himself and doesn’t let anyone mess with him. It’s easy to picture him breaking any kind of law if someone was inconveniencing him or just if he felt like it. The scene where he takes out the bully who was preparing to attack him was great.

Most of the side characters don’t get quite as much to do. The only other standout was English who did good in preparing Frank for what was coming and really giving him a chance here. It does feel like Frank would not have made it without him and the exposition the guy had at the ready. The cellmate with the rat also seemed like a good guy. Perhaps not the strongest ally physically but he had a lot of connections which is important here. I always find it interesting how a prisoner gets so much influence and materials to barter with but apparently there is a whole underworld economy going on so those things just happen.

The film can be a little intense but not nearly as intense as you would expect. Given the rep of these maximum security prisons you often expect to see a whole lot of inhumane stuff going on and everyone being crazy but that’s not really what happens here. Yes, you do see some stuff but the details aren’t extremely vivid and the film doesn’t dwell on it which is good. You know enough to reason out the rest which is the proper approach.

Overall, Escape from Alcatraz is a pretty solid prison film. It keeps you engaged all the way through and also shows you what a rough place Alcatraz is without getting needlessly dark at times like in Shawshank. You understand exactly why Frank needs to get out of there as soon as possible. While you are an inmate there you don’t have your basic human rights and privileges. So you need freedom at any cost and as many know, freedom can be worth the risk of death. The whole process of planning out the escape is pretty interesting so you should definitely check it out if you’re wondering how this went down. Perhaps not exactly the way the film presents it but probably close enough.