Actor Kiefer Sutherland makes a striking directorial debut with this hard-hitting, made-for-cable prison drama in which he also stars as an unrepentant killer on Death Row. Soft hearts, be warned - the outcome is inevitable for the killer, but not before he discovers an unlikely friend in a prison guard (a moving performance by Forest Whitaker). The film is well acted and directed, with the claustrophobic atmosphere vividly depicted in the stark photography. Shot partly in a real California prison and partly on the set used for 1979's Escape from Alcatraz, this is a grim, riveting study of a wasted life.

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