It stars Brian Cox, a national treasure if ever there was one.

Yet again, Cox delivers an immensely assured performance as Frank, a lifer who resolves to make a break for it after he discovers his daughter, who he hasn’t seen for 14 years, is now a drug addict.

He assembles a bunch of fellow crims (including a monosyllabic Joseph Fiennes) to bust out of what seems like the most hellishly Gothic prison in Britain, run by two psychotic inmates (Damian Lewis, Steven Mackintosh).

With the escape shown right from the off, spliced with various bits of back story, it’s an unconventional telling, but
first-timer Rupert Wyatt has a real director’s eye.

Scenes of the gang descending into cavernous tunnels are quite stunning, proof you don’t need a Hollywood-sized budget to make an impression.

With the performances simmering with menace, notably Mackintosh’s unhinged drug addict, this is hardly family viewing but compared to the Mockney nonsense in films by Guy Ritchie, this boasts more steel than a prison door.

(15, 102 mins)
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Stars: Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes

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