“Felon” would have been noteworthy had we not seen it all before.

| Apr 21, 2023

An emotionally intense and powerfully strong film that assails one's sensibilities and mores, ... FELON touches our hearts and our minds, humanizing what and who many perceive as inhuman.

| Nov 7, 2019

Explores how violence is endemic in the prisoner, no matter their background, almost as soon as their sentencing is handed down.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 5, 2019

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

| Original Score: C | Sep 7, 2011

The plot expands and gets more complex as the story progresses, and the dramatic tension ratchets up

| Nov 14, 2008

It's still white-knuckle tense, and held together by dozens of small, well-observed moments.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 18, 2008

...establishes itself as a gritty, thoroughly compelling prison drama that rarely relies on the various tropes of the genre.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 3, 2008

Dorff, who was last spotted as a scary sexual sadist in Shadowboxer, gives a mesmerizing performance evolving from stunned civilian to brutalized inmate and dangerous prison thug, then transforming into a tested man who rediscovers his own humanity.

| Aug 1, 2008

This tough, uncompromising, cautionary thriller should be a wake-up call about America's outrageously archaic laws insofar as defending the sanctity of home and family.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 26, 2008

Stephen Dorff's powerhouse perf as an ordinary Joe trapped behind bars with warring ethnic psychopaths propels "Felon" well ahead of its expose/exploitation brethren while still avoiding the pious learning curves of Frank Darabont's prestige prison dramas

| Jul 21, 2008

Felon ventures outside the prison walls so often that the audience doesn(TM)t get a prolonged sense of the claustrophobia of confinement; the rage being displayed actually dispels the sense of isolation and boredom.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 18, 2008

Kilmer and Dorff, who was also an executive producer, immerse themselves in difficult roles and the film's overall air of social commitment will surprise viewers drawn in by its exploitation-movie promotion.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 18, 2008

Tough, brutish prison drama with an easy windup, but good acting and an uncompromising take on the prison system.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2008

Written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh, and filmed at the New Mexico State Penitentiary near Santa Fe, Felon is one of the most realistic prison films ever made.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 18, 2008

A good cast and disciplined direction add some distinction to Ric Roman Waugh's Felon, which is basically the old tale about an innocent man corrupted by a stay in prison.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 18, 2008

A subplot involving corrupt guards makes the movie even duller than the score that sounds like a rusty squeezebox.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 18, 2008

For a film that seems to pride itself on its depiction of prison-reality, it feels extremely movie-phony.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 18, 2008

While the film is violent and decidedly tragic, the overall sensation of watching it is nothing you haven't experienced before with numerous films, from Death Warrant to Lock Up to Oz.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 17, 2008

Directed with pounding energy by Ric Roman Waugh and acted to the hilt by a cast comprising several of yesterday's stars proving their mettle, the movie delivers the thrills and emotion that prison movies require.

Full Review | Jul 17, 2008