Good, but not the best.

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2002)

Not even the best within the prison genre itself. After all the positive comments I heard, I was waiting for some fantastic ending or deep philosophic message to come through. Neither did. The ending turns out to be as clichéd and predictable as most other movies in the genre. For those who like prison movies, just go and watch some A&E's investigative reports on American penal system. They are way more realistic and gut wrenching than this film and they are free.
On the other hand, let us not be too cynical either. It's obvious that a lot of good work have been put into this film. Morgan Freeman's work alone is worth the money of the movie. The other highlight is Mozart's music over the intercom, which completely captivate the inmates. The scene is deeply philosophical and the music therapeutic. But still, it is somewhat unbelievable, as how many prison inmates really dig Mozart? If they did, they probably wouldn't have ended up behind bars in the first place. But hey this is Hollywood.
It's not a must see movie unless you have never seen a prison film before. But it is an entertaining one to kill some time for a Friday night when you have run out of things to do. So for my money, it is worth 7/10.