Pretty good, especially in comparison to most other modern day sequels. Paul Mescal's acting felt a bit flat in certain areas but Pedro Pascal, the two emperors, some really good action sequences, and the overall bigger scale of this one saved it for me.
There are a few points in the film where I kind of thought it was just rehashing something from the original, and then they kind of pull it off with a twist. It's not completely original,…
Damn did they cook with this film, 30 years on and having seen it before, and it's still fire. What at first seems to be just a super interesting story of one man's struggle with a false imprisonment, all comes together with a massive revelation (wouldn't exactly call it a "twist") at the end.
Lot of good scenes, good acting from everyone, especially Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and Bob Gunton. Plus, it was filmed in an actual prison!
Decent film, obviously written by Tarantino and would probably have been better if it was directed by him. The first half is a 3/5 and the second half is a 4/5, and is a lot more compelling, so you've kind of got to stick with it for a bit for what's a pretty good pay-off.
