7/10
In Peter Yates' film, bad cops become dangerous predators
29 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The film opens with sequences conceived to present Selleck as a loving husband and a devoted airlines maintenance supervisor… His name is Jimmie Rainwood…

One night, a couple of crooked narcotics cops break down Rainwood's peaceful door...

Jimmy—who had just taken a shower—comes out with a hair dryer in his hand… He is shot twice by the anti-drugs cops who have caught a shadow of what looks like a gun… So to justify their error, they concocted an entire fairy tale planting drugs in Jimmy's home and a gun in his hand…

Rainwood ends up in jail…

Luckily, he is befriended by Virgil Cane, played by F. Murray Abraham… Cane was the character to keep your eye on… He is a 'schemer and a charmer.'

Virgil disagrees with Jimmy's sensitiveness as a straight man… This is an 'insane place with insane rules' that tests the human consciousness, yet survival will never be the same without some sort of sacrifice… A group of degenerate prisoners make life unbearable for Jimmy until he learns how to really fight back…

The film had its fair share of bloody moments and did not shy away from the nasty things that go on in men's prisons
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