PAPILLON review by Ronnie Malik – Charlie Hunnam & Rami Malek must break out of a prison nightmare

PAPILLON review by Ronnie Malik – Charlie Hunnam & Rami Malek must break out of a prison nightmare

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Rating: B-

Riveting powerful films telling stories of innocent men doomed to prison life and surviving unimaginable conditions include classics like THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE GREEN MILE, and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. All three of these movies are examples of how good story telling can leave a lingering mark for those watching a drama unfold while discovering the deeper meanings hidden in the storyline. Director Michael Noer and his team are bringing audiences an updated version of the classic 1973 PAPILLON, which starred Hollywood giants Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.  And both the original and new PAPILLON is an adaptation of the 1969 bestselling memoir of a French prisoner’s life that had readers obsessed.

Papillon (Charlie Hunnam) is framed for  murder and unjustly sentence to prison.  While being shipped off to a French penal colony, Papillon meets Dega (Rami Malik), a wealthy corrupt business man that was caught by authorities for forgery. Seeing an opportunity for money and escape, Papillon aligns himself with Dega to gain his favor and a reward for protecting the aristocrat in a world he more than likely will not survive on his own.  At first the delicate Dega seems more of an annoyance that Papi has to put up with but over time a special bond forms between the two men that ultimately creates a deep loving friendship. Together they lay the ground work for a daring prison escape.

Affectionately known as “Papi”, the rugged inmate is stubborn, energetic, and determined. Warden Barott (Yorick Van Wageningen), who runs the prison with an iron fist, takes note of the spirited Papillon and is determined to break him by any sadistic means necessary. The cruel warden has no heart when it comes to Papi and inflicts solitary confinement, beatings, starvation, and ultimately sends the falsely accused man off to a Devil’s Island.  Over and over again Papi tries to escape only to have freedom continuously torn away each time and he ends up in conditions far worse than ones he endured before.

Hunnman and Malik hold their own playing two men surviving a hellish life only because of their love for one another. The actors don’t create anything new for audiences to grab on to and although they don’t do a bad job of portraying the real life prisoners, they just can’t seem to pull off fully a convincing emotional connection. Another noticeable flaw in this production is how good Hunnman looks portraying a guy that has been beaten, starved, and suffered through solitary confinement not once but twice.  It is not realistic that one would come out of a situation like that looking perfectly intact and with any form of sanity (it did look like Hunnman lost weight as things progressed). I am sure the real life Papillon must have suffered some emotional trauma from his time served and that part of his history is not really touched upon in the film.

There are plenty of scenes in this prison re-make of slave labor, violence, robing men of their dignity, and awful living conditions. But nothing displayed offers any shock value and at times this adaptation of PAPILLON lacks originality. The dialogue is often clunky making it difficult to really connect with any of the characters. The movie tries to be gritty and dark while providing the message of hope, but somehow the strength of the two themes doesn’t fully come together, leaving the jail break adventure feeling flat and lifeless.  A much better use of the passage of time to showcase the terrible conditions the central character faces could have been developed to intensify the horrible experience he endures. Instead the timelines seem to jump too quickly making it hard to grasp the horror inflicted on the spirited champion pursuing his freedom. The climax doesn’t soar and the story seems to wrap up fast and abruptly so the emotional reaction moviegoers want to experience probably won’t happen.

is not nearly as engaging as some of the other Hollywood classics depicting prison dramas. The 2018 remake feels very contrived with stereotypical scenes of prison life meant to move the audience but only succeed in asking the question “Where is the rest of the movie?” The film sorely lacks anything compelling that will ignite any emotion for audiences watching. PAPILLON does tell a story about survival but sadly the story never reaches an intensity that will give the true picture of what Henri “Papillon” Charrière went through that lead to him writing his amazing memoirs.

PAPILLON opens August 24, 2018

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