Marc Blucas

Brawl in Cell Block 99 - 4/5

This is one of those movies that is really good and I can’t recommend it. It’s too brutal, too heavy, and too real for most people to enjoy, but it’s so viscerally poignant that if you can stomach the content you owe it to yourself to watch. It’s another ‘crying for the state of the world’-type films, not the action-style prison break movies that make up the rest of this sub-genre, and it’s executed in a somber brutal realism that shows the deep respect the filmmakers have for the subject matter.

Content warning: abortion, brutal violence

Closest comparison: It’s like Wind River, but for abortion instead of sexual assault.

Setting: Crime / Prison
Plot: Hard Times / Action
Tone: Slow Burn / Brutal