New Alcatraz would have gotten a 4/10 from me if it weren't for the fact that I nearly stopped watching it partway through due to predictability. The director and writer seem to have learned their trade by reading "Starter's guide: Make your own survival horror!".
Only three characters survive the movie. One of them survived because the plane needed a pilot. The other two survived because they were married to each other. The hero is killed off at the last moment in order to conform to the expectations of the genre. Altogether throughly unconvincing.
The only remotely realistic character in the entire movie is Yuri Brescov, played by Mark Sheppard (who actually plays the role quite well). The two paleontologists are not particularly sympathetic characters, in fact, the only thing they have going for them is the fact that they closely resemble Antonio Banderas and Katie Holmes respectively.
With the exception of Yuri, who was a beacon of courage, competence, common sense and honour, the other characters failed to put up even a reasonable level of effort into ensuring their own survival, despite being completely aware of the nature and deadliness of the threat they faced. Mind boggling incompetence seems to occur in every scene. One particularly strange event is when the soldier McCarthy is killed and the major seems to immediately forget about his existence, not even acknowledging his death, despite being in constant radio contact with him for several minutes leading up to his death.
Another failure is the inconsistency of the characters. Two examples come to mind, the first is Sergeant Quinn, who has been extremely worried about the snake and the survival of himself and his men and even refused to leave the command station until given a direct order by the warden is told by the scientists that the vibrations produced by the carts they are riding would attract the snake and they should proceed on foot. At this point he suddenly decides that he can't be bothered to walk and continues on in the cart. The other example would be Yuri, who is extremely calm, clearheaded and courageous throughout the rest of the movie suddenly freezes in the middle of a scene, which again is totally out of character.
One of the biggest oversights is the potential for psychological tension between the prisoners and the 'good guys' during the escape, which seems to have been completely ignored. The inmates of the highest security prison in the world are actually fairly decent people. I am incapable of giving any comment on this.
The real failing of the movie is that it is neither character driven nor plot driven. This removes all the believability in the story and prevents the audience from becoming involved in the film. With a good writer this could have been a great film. Three out of Ten.
Only three characters survive the movie. One of them survived because the plane needed a pilot. The other two survived because they were married to each other. The hero is killed off at the last moment in order to conform to the expectations of the genre. Altogether throughly unconvincing.
The only remotely realistic character in the entire movie is Yuri Brescov, played by Mark Sheppard (who actually plays the role quite well). The two paleontologists are not particularly sympathetic characters, in fact, the only thing they have going for them is the fact that they closely resemble Antonio Banderas and Katie Holmes respectively.
With the exception of Yuri, who was a beacon of courage, competence, common sense and honour, the other characters failed to put up even a reasonable level of effort into ensuring their own survival, despite being completely aware of the nature and deadliness of the threat they faced. Mind boggling incompetence seems to occur in every scene. One particularly strange event is when the soldier McCarthy is killed and the major seems to immediately forget about his existence, not even acknowledging his death, despite being in constant radio contact with him for several minutes leading up to his death.
Another failure is the inconsistency of the characters. Two examples come to mind, the first is Sergeant Quinn, who has been extremely worried about the snake and the survival of himself and his men and even refused to leave the command station until given a direct order by the warden is told by the scientists that the vibrations produced by the carts they are riding would attract the snake and they should proceed on foot. At this point he suddenly decides that he can't be bothered to walk and continues on in the cart. The other example would be Yuri, who is extremely calm, clearheaded and courageous throughout the rest of the movie suddenly freezes in the middle of a scene, which again is totally out of character.
One of the biggest oversights is the potential for psychological tension between the prisoners and the 'good guys' during the escape, which seems to have been completely ignored. The inmates of the highest security prison in the world are actually fairly decent people. I am incapable of giving any comment on this.
The real failing of the movie is that it is neither character driven nor plot driven. This removes all the believability in the story and prevents the audience from becoming involved in the film. With a good writer this could have been a great film. Three out of Ten.