My real quibble with this movie is that it seems - strangely enough - to portray conditions in a third world jail that are just a little too comfortable. At least that's my sense - having never been in a third world jail I can't honestly say what the conditions were like. Still, what was shown here was prison, sure, but it didn't look like the absolute hell hole I would have expected.
That aside, this is an interesting film from a number of angles. The first is the drug smuggling angle, and the depiction of how lost as a foreigner you can be when you find yourself at the mercy of a justice system that you don't understand and that seems stacked against you. Darlene and Alice (Kate Beckinsale and Claire Danes) are a couple of American girls, newly graduated form high school, who celebrate by taking the trip of a lifetime to Thailand. Unfortunately, they get unwittingly caught up in a drug smuggling scheme and get sent to prison, and it seems that hopes for their release are pretty much zero, unless a local American lawyer (Bill Pullman) can pull some rabbit out of his hat. The portrayal of the Thai justice system isn't complimentary to the Thais - and take note. Saying "I'm an American citizen. I have rights!" gets you nowhere. This was a decent portrayal of the system, and a look at drug smuggling and the tactics that very well could be used.
More interesting, though, is the study of the friendship between Alice and Darlene - a friendship that is tested by this. Lifelong friends, Alice has historically been the bad girl of the pair, with Darlene the good & respectable one. But it's Darlene who gets the pair into this mess by letting herself get swept off her feet by the smuggler, and in the end, the story turns into a powerful one of sacrifice as the girls' friendship is ultimately demonstrated by a noble and unselfish act on the part of Alice, who (bad girl past aside) was the one who WAS NOT responsible. In fact, the last 15 minutes of the movie are the most powerful scenes here.
Overall, I can't say that I found this to be the most exciting movie ever made - which is perhaps appropriate. Life in a third world jail probably isn't "exciting." But it is an interesting look at friendship and how far friends will go for each other. (6/10)
That aside, this is an interesting film from a number of angles. The first is the drug smuggling angle, and the depiction of how lost as a foreigner you can be when you find yourself at the mercy of a justice system that you don't understand and that seems stacked against you. Darlene and Alice (Kate Beckinsale and Claire Danes) are a couple of American girls, newly graduated form high school, who celebrate by taking the trip of a lifetime to Thailand. Unfortunately, they get unwittingly caught up in a drug smuggling scheme and get sent to prison, and it seems that hopes for their release are pretty much zero, unless a local American lawyer (Bill Pullman) can pull some rabbit out of his hat. The portrayal of the Thai justice system isn't complimentary to the Thais - and take note. Saying "I'm an American citizen. I have rights!" gets you nowhere. This was a decent portrayal of the system, and a look at drug smuggling and the tactics that very well could be used.
More interesting, though, is the study of the friendship between Alice and Darlene - a friendship that is tested by this. Lifelong friends, Alice has historically been the bad girl of the pair, with Darlene the good & respectable one. But it's Darlene who gets the pair into this mess by letting herself get swept off her feet by the smuggler, and in the end, the story turns into a powerful one of sacrifice as the girls' friendship is ultimately demonstrated by a noble and unselfish act on the part of Alice, who (bad girl past aside) was the one who WAS NOT responsible. In fact, the last 15 minutes of the movie are the most powerful scenes here.
Overall, I can't say that I found this to be the most exciting movie ever made - which is perhaps appropriate. Life in a third world jail probably isn't "exciting." But it is an interesting look at friendship and how far friends will go for each other. (6/10)