Racquel Welch's gaping plot hole.

Rating: 1/10 (10 September 2001)

This film is story driven rather than character driven which means it'll always be liked by people but will never be one of the all-time greats. I have no problem with the plot design - it's well assembled and effectively climaxed. Overall, a well thought out entertaining film. The dialogue and characterisation devices however were cheesy and untrue to the world of the story.
1)The new inmates line up for a speech from the warden. One inmate growls: "When do we eat?". Unrealistic and unnecessary. He might well have said: "Please hit me several times so the audience can see how brutal this prison is." The brutality of the prison is conveyed when crying fat boy gets kicked to death, so this addition is pointless.
2)The story had already established freemans and robbins friendship, when freeman leans over to robbins and says: "We're kinda becomin friends aren't we?" Can you ever imagine any grown adult actually saying that to another?
3)Worst scene of the film: the music scene. The film uses music to symbolise the theme of hope (robbins mind music in the hole, freemans harmonica). This is first introduced when robbins locks himself in the office and blares loud music all over the prison. Yeah OK, willful main character. But when the warden and guards shout for him to turn it off, what does he do? He sits back with feet up and smug grin plastered on his face. The guards bang again and again. What does he do? He leans over to the gramaphone and turns the volume up. I mean, come on, do me a favour. His punishment is a month in the hole, and for a simple reason. If the scriptwriter had shown the guards breaking in and kicking him almost to death (which is what really would have happened), then the audience is left thinking: "What a fool". The scene was silly and should've been rethought.
Finally, can someone please tell me how he got that poster of Racquel Welch back on the wall after he climbed frontways into that tunnel?
I give it an 8 out of 10.