People looking for escapist fun at the theatre may be polarized by Rod Lurie's The Last Castle.  While it doesn't deal with terrorism and isn't set in New York City, the film does feature a scene where a helicopter is hijacked and used to plow into a building in order to kill a guy who's just doing his job.  And that's not even counting the patriotic, flag-waving (literally) finale.

In the film, Robert Redford (The Horse Whisperer) plays a three-star U.S. Army General named Irwin, who, after pleading guilty to a crime, is shipped off to a maximum-security military prison run by Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini, The Mexican).  Although we don't know anything about his background, it is assumed Irwin is some kind of military hero, on account of Winter being all geeked up about his impending arrival.  The other inmates don't feel quite the same way, as some place bets with the prison bookie (Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count on Me) about potential suicide attempts.

The two men butt heads almost immediately, launching a who's-got-a-bigger-cock battle for control of the prison (it's called The Castle, by the way).  Winter has fun using the inmates as pawns and watches it all from a big third-story window like a kid with an ant farm, while Irwin quickly earns the respect of his peers in a very silly scene that involves moving a large pile of heavy rocks (it probably should have been set to Aretha Franklin's "Respect").  Winter looks down from on high, proudly declaring, "He's playing soldier," as he surveys Irwin from an office filled with shiny war toys he has collected over his combat-free career. How's that for subtle?

We slowly begin to learn things about Irwin (he was both a bad father and a POW), but as Castle approaches the 70-minute mark, there are still two huge questions left hanging in the air:  What crime did he commit, and where the hell is Delroy Lindo?  But the background of his character barely matters when he's so busy questioning and undermining Winter's authority.  Like the song goes, Irwin wants to accentuate the positive when it comes to these incarcerated soldiers, while Winter would rather dwell on the negatives in their lives, like the times they committed murder and assault and stuff.  It's hard to say whether Irwin is doing it all for one last battlefield victory, or out of sheer boredom, or because he has a legitimate beef with Winter and his managerial style.

Castle was directed by former film critic Rod Lurie (The Contender), and while his casts keep getting bigger and better, this is his first picture to be penned by someone else.  Unfortunately, that "someone else" is David Scarpa and Graham Yost, the latter of whom has churned out a whole lot of crap (Mission to Mars, Hard Rain) since hitting pay dirt with Speed a decade ago.  Their story is as far-fetched as anything you'll see on the screen this year, and is worsened by their decision to make hardened criminals into something resembling the football players in Remember the Titans.  I've got a problem with prison pictures that are, essentially, about a guy who isn't supposed to be there (which is why Oz is so frigging great), but making every single murderer and rapist into a sympathetic character is going way too far.

2:09 –

for language and violence