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Common Sense Media Review

Relevant messages in uneven, brutal prison fighting movie.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The System is an action-drama about an illegal fighting ring in a private prison. It centers on former Marine Terry Savage (Tyrese Gibson), an inmate who must find proof of human rights violations in order to be released and get back to his ailing daughter. It's sometimes ridiculous,…

Why Age 16+?

Constant, extremely strong language, including within several hardcore hip-hop s

Killings, dead bodies, blood smears, pools of blood, etc. Many fight scenes, wit

Drug warehouses shown; people weigh and package cocaine, marijuana, etc., plus p

Scantily clad women work in drug warehouses. Brief, crass sex-related dialogue.

Mentions of Burger King and McDonald's/McNuggets/McRibs (in a description of pri

Any Positive Content?

Among the scenes of training and fighting, the movie is trying to say something

While Savage and Bones are likable and strong, they've made critical mistakes in

Two Black men are at the center of this story, but they're convicted of crimes a

Constant, extremely strong language, including within several hardcore hip-hop songs on the soundtrack: "f--k," "motherf----r," the "N" word, "s--t," "a--hole," "dumbass," "bitch," "goddamn," "bastard," "monkey boy," "ass," "balls," "hell."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Killings, dead bodies, blood smears, pools of blood, etc. Many fight scenes, with punching, kicking, martial arts, slamming bodies against surfaces, breaking bones, etc. Guard stabbed. Characters fight multiple opponents at once. People get knocked unconscious. Hitting with butt of gun. Characters Tased. Fighting with shivs/blades. Character with sharpened teeth bites the main character. Fighting with mop handle. Guns and shooting. Character injected with tracking chip. Threats. Swastika tattoo. Dialogue: "psycho rapist put his hands on my sister" and "I beat that predator to death."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Drug warehouses shown; people weigh and package cocaine, marijuana, etc., plus plastic-wrapped piles of cash. Warden regularly smokes a cigar. Cigarette smoking. Background drinking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Scantily clad women work in drug warehouses. Brief, crass sex-related dialogue. ("I want Cindy Crawford to rub my balls.")

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Mentions of Burger King and McDonald's/McNuggets/McRibs (in a description of prison as a franchise). Mention of "What's in your wallet?" (ads for Capital One).

Positive Messages

Among the scenes of training and fighting, the movie is trying to say something about the deeply corrupt, racist, and exploitative American prison system, how it has become a business, and how Black and Brown people are targeted to fill empty cells.

Positive Role Models

While Savage and Bones are likable and strong, they've made critical mistakes in their lives, turning to crime and murder to solve problems. But they've also learned lessons, and, in the end, there's hope that they can turn their lives around.

Diverse Representations

Two Black men are at the center of this story, but they're convicted of crimes and are inside the prison system. (Their circumstances are intended to inspire empathy -- each was trying to take care of his family.) Other Black characters are depicted as being stuck in a racist system. The prison has various "mafias" organized by race, including a Latino one, a Black one, and one with White supremacists. Very few women are seen, but one woman of color is a prison guard who risks her life to save the main character. Another Black woman is a lawyer who's fighting to get the main character out of prison. A person of short stature is completely tokenized, showing up only to ding round bells during prison fights and occasionally fist-bump the warden.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that The System is an action-drama about an illegal fighting ring in a private prison. It centers on former Marine Terry Savage ( Tyrese Gibson ), an inmate who must find proof of human rights violations in order to be released and get back to his ailing daughter. It's sometimes ridiculous, but it does have relevant messages about corruption and racism. There's lots of intense, violent fighting -- punching, kicking, bashing, etc. -- plus guns and shooting, deaths, blood pools/smears, stabbing, broken bones, tasing, and more. A woman is stabbed, and there's a mention of rape. Language includes constant use of "f--k," "motherf----r," and more, plus the "N" word many times in the soundtrack. There are some scantily clad women and a crass line of sex-related dialogue. Drug warehouses are shown, with packages of cocaine, marijuana, etc. Characters smoke cigars and cigarettes, and there's background drinking. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In THE SYSTEM, highly decorated former Marine Terry Savage ( Tyrese Gibson ) has been forced to rob a drug dealer to pay for his dangerously ill daughter's hospital bills. He's caught and goes to prison, but the commissioner ( Ric Reitz ) offers him a deal. If Terry goes to a special private prison and captures evidence of human rights violations, he'll be released. Once there, Terry is forced to fight to defend himself. Warden Lucas ( Jeremy Piven ) recruits him for a series of secret Friday-night fights called "The Dungeon." He's assigned a trainer, Bones ( Terrence Howard ), to show him the ropes. After a few bouts, Terry learns that the warden's corruption and lies go much deeper than expected. He decides on a dangerous plan to change things and, hopefully, get back to his daughter.

Is It Any Good?

Ranging from preachy to lazy to flat-out ridiculous, this prison-fight drama benefits from committed work by Gibson and Howard, but they can't overcome saggy storytelling and uninspired filmmaking. The System offers a lot of commentary -- all of it searingly relevant -- on the corruption, exploitation, and racism of the prison system. But it inserts all of this commentary into pockets of awkward expositional dialogue and ends up sounding irritating rather than inspirational. And the Dungeon fights are like a cheap parody of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (they all look like they were all filmed on the same day).

During the fights, an overacting Piven literally sits on a throne and shouts "come on!" in a Southern accent, while a comical fight announcer (rapper Lil Yachty) makes needless comments ("Welcome to the Dungeon!"), and a tokenized person of short stature is there only to ding the round bells and occasionally fist-bump the warden. And some details just aren't very smart, such as a cell phone that the commissioner has left for Terry in the apparently impenetrable prison, which Terry uses throughout without anyone ever noticing. Not to mention that overarching plot threads -- such as the warden offering to bring Terry in on the prison's secret drug business -- make absolutely no sense. Finally, everything in The System ties up a little too neatly, especially given how complex the problem is.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The System 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

What did you learn about corruption and racism within the prison system? What do you think can be done about it?

At one point a character is called a bully . How is bullying behavior depicted here? Are those who bully others different inside the prison system than out? What are some strategies to deal with bullying?

How are drugs, alcohol, and smoking depicted? Are they glamorized? Are there realistic consequences? Why does that matter?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 28, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : November 4, 2022
• Cast : Tyrese Gibson , Terrence Howard , Jeremy Piven
• Director : Dallas Jackson
• Inclusion Information : Black directors, Black actors, Black writers
• Studio : The Avenue
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 98 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence, language throughout and some drug material
• Last updated : January 15, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The System: Is The Violent Prison Drama Inspired By a True Story?

Dallas Jackson’s film, ‘The System,’ ripe with intense emotions and action, presents a story about the failings of the U.S. prison system. The film revolves around a former decorated war veteran, Terry Savage, whose financial instability, along with his daughter’s medical issues, drive him to take a gamble on criminality. However, after the man gets caught in a drug bust, the local Police Commissioner, Clarke, offers him a deal to ensure his eventual freedom by running a solo undercover operation in a dangerous Private Prison.

Run by ruthless Warden Lucas, the prison has been rumored to be a breeding ground for human rights violations and gross corruption. Thus, with no other choice left, Savage finds himself entering Lucas’ lethal den to uncover the ugly truth within the prison walls in an effort to return to his previous life. Savage’s experiences within the prison carry a perpetual darkness while also highlighting socio-political themes of systemic power abuse and racism . For the same reason, viewers must wonder if the character’s experiences in the movie are based on a true story.

The Real-Life Inspiration Behind The Film

‘The System’ is not based on a true story. Nevertheless, different elements of the story are deeply rooted in various sectors of reality. Therefore, even though the characters and the situation depicted within the film are fiction, they were fabricated in an attempt to showcase a worst-case scenario inspired by the brutalities of real life.

Dallas Jackson, the film’s writer and director, credits the inspiration for the film’s origins to two news articles about different instances of power abuse against the incarcerated. Discussing the same in a conversation with Afro , the filmmaker said, “One, I got sent an article about prisoners being made to fight to the death in an upstate New York prison. They had prisoners on tape, fighting each other to the death, and it got picked up nationwide.”

Although Jackson never specified the details behind this article and the prison it talked of, one can find a few similar instances in recent years. In 2012, Rikers Island’s RNDC youth jail came under fire after 18-year-old Kadeem John sustained grave injuries due to routine beatings. Insiders told The New York Post about a fight-club-esque system within the prison known as “The Program,” which leads to constant brutalization. Describing the caste system with “deputized top dogs” and “overmatched, weaker teens ,” one source said, “It’s how they [The people in charge of the jail] keep control of things without having to get their hands dirty.”

Likewise, a second source of inspiration for filmmaker Jackson came from another article that describes corruption in the private prison system, particularly in Texas, where a tri-prison system employed its prisoners’ free labor. “There was also an abuse component in that–they weren’t being made to fight to the death, but they were being physically abused,” he said.

Similarly, lead actor Tyrese Gibson also discussed this component of the story and said, “It’s modern-day slavery. They basically got Black men in there day and night working for pennies on the dollar, or nothing at all.” He further added, “It’s something about the concept of Black people being locked away in cages that have been going on for many, many years, and there’s a lot of sensitivities around that.”

The Prison System And Modern-Day Slavery

The practice of prison labor, referred to as modern-day slavery, remains a prevalent narrative theme within the story. Warden Lucas’ prison, Degnan Correctional Institute, a private corporation-owned prison, employs labor from their convicts to repackage various drugs, from pharmaceuticals to cocaine. In exchange, the narrative implies that the convicts receive little to no payment for their work. Once this revelation comes out in the open, it fills in some blanks about the reality behind the prison and its inhuman fight club system. Instead of framing the Warden simply as a sadist, the plot detail brings the for-profit, exploitative nature of certain prisons into the light.

In real life, several arguments have been made against prison labor, with many comparing it to the modern-day equivalent of slavery. Journalist and award-winning writer Ryan Moser essayed a paper titled ‘Slavery and the Modern-Day Prison Plantation,’ in which he discusses the same topic. In his work, he underscores the implication of the Constitution’s Thirteenth Amendment, which abolishes slavery but retains its legality “[except] as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”

Moser asserts the same means, “hundreds of thousands of Americans are currently enslaved—as punishment for a crime—and it’s expressly constitutional.” The journalist further elaborates how Prison Farms, or plantations as he calls them, are commonplace in the carceral system, producing an estimated $2 billion per year. He also notes that the well-documented racial and economic disparities within the justice system lead to a disproportionately Black population within such prison farms.

Thus, within the same context, the titular system that Jackson’s film depicts of unfair and immoral incarceration receives some connection to real life. Ultimately, the storyline and the details that ‘The System’ builds its narrative upon are fictitious. Still, they retain a relationship with reality through their exploration of a tense social issue, which infuses this fictional film with a sense of realism.

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The System (2022)

Director: Dallas Jackson 98 minutes

Release Date: 28th October 2022

After returning from war, a young soldier gets involved in a drugs bust and has to go undercover in a prison for the authorities.

Create your own review

The System was more brawn than brains and it could be argued very strongly that no brains were involved at all in what is a mediocre action film. Either Jeremy Priven had too much spare time on his hands or he needed a bit of cash very quickly. He's far better than this. The System does have its fair share of action that action seekers will probably enjoy short term but will quickly be forgotten, even the prison scenes weren't really anything new. Acting was good by Priven as one would expect. Tyrese Gibson, who many will recognise from The Fast & Furious franchise also plays his role well in what is a dull outing that lacks freshness and any new ideas. A drug bust that goes wrong and those above getting the small guy to do the undercover work is something we have had on our screens since screens were invented. There is a debate to be had that The System should be called The Cistern instead, but, and it's big but, if you want to be entertained for an hour and a half this will do, but you will hold your head in your hands for some time afterwoulds.

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Directed by Dallas Jackson

Behind bars there is no mercy.

When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.

Tyrese Gibson Terrence Howard Jeremy Piven Lil Yachty Ric Reitz Laura Aleman Caleb Spillyards Marrese Crump Nick Gore Ronnie Yelverton Jeremy Sande Scott Green Arielle Prepetit Eric Walton David Joseph Martinez Artrial Clark Hawk Walts Hassel Kromer Stephon Rodgers

Director Director

Dallas Jackson

Writer Writer

BondIt Media Capital Buffalo 8 Productions

Releases by Date

Theatrical limited, 28 oct 2022, 04 nov 2022, 27 feb 2023, 09 may 2023, 01 jun 2023, 05 jun 2023, 11 apr 2023, 01 may 2023, 13 jun 2023, releases by country.

• Digital MA 15+
• Digital 16 VOD
• Physical DVD & Blu-Ray
• Physical 16 FSK-Freigabedatum

New Zealand

• Digital R16
• Theatrical limited R

97 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by shookone ★½

this is godawful in many ways, from being a cheapo Bloodsport copy to the amateurish staging of a bone-dry VHS shelf couch potato salad, but then again this still is also raw unapologetic cinema of masculinism, including missing all the essential parts of the brain. from the bouncy homage of a old school hip hop soundtrack blatantly put all over the place to Jeremy Piven channelling his all star Ari Gold character . total chav apple-knocker bullshit, but couldn’t help but having fun with it.

Review by Rob Hill ★★ 2

Aaannnddd this is NOT what the doctor ordered.

Eleven minutes in, and literally everything is a paint-by-numbers prison movie. I can live with that!

You don't watch prison fight movies for the writing, but dear GOD the writing is atrocious. I could forgive that, too, except...

The fights are pretty mid. Other than the opening crime and one fight in the jail kitchen, most of the action here is awfully average. That's forgivable, but when it's the highlight of the film? I'd feel free to skip this one.

Review by Dylan van Frankfoort ★★★★½ 4

"With her we haftah pray AFTAH we eat, so we don't shit ouhselves!" - Southern Jeremy with the Piven cranked wayyy up, on the subject of his wife's cooking

Exactly the type of gem that makes me glad Lb exists, because otherwise I'd be accosting strangers on the street, telling them they NEED to see this movie where a vampire with strong ground game gets MERKED by Tyrese.

Sick soundtrack; kept thinking RZA or GZA might start dropping bars. Also somewhat reminiscent of the hip hop-infused PS1 tank game, Shellshock, which is absolutely real .

Tyrese has mad Moxley swag, especially in his hoodie at the start when he single-handedly demolishes a drug house, and turns in one of the best…

Review by doppelgangerdev ★★★ 3

I saw this pop up late last year and kinda passed it by. Little did I know this was a Dallas Jackson joint! My ** 1/2 star king finally breaks through and hits the B movie button I knew was possible. Both Thriller and Welcome to Sudden Death have their odd charms. The System has Dallas at his most serious: a story about the American private prison complex. And at his most exploitation-y: said prison has a massive fight club called The Dungeon run by warden Jermey Piven. While this seems like a prime Michael Jai White material, instead we've got Tyrese! Someone else who dips his toes into the more grounded action world frequently now. He's ok in stoic…

Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🐝 ★★½

The 2022 Catchup Project

I don't know why I find it so funny watching the Fast and Furious gang desperately killing time between those adventures by turning up in the cheapest, crappiest looking shit.

Going from driving a car in space to sharing scenes with Jeremy Piven trying to look tough is quite some drop for Tyrese Gibson. Couldn't he find something that looked like it had some semblance of a budget to be in until Fast X comes out? Rome deserves better than this, cuz. Even the opening credit font looks like something from Windows 95 days.

The System is very bad but also entertaining in that at least it keeps having fights happen to distract from how bad…

Review by Film_Sammlung ★★½

Nachdem Dallas Jackson mit "Welcome to Sudden Death" nicht gerade das beliebteste Werk abgeliefert hat, präsentiert er in seinem neusten Streifen doch etwas mehr können.

Terry Savage wird als Ex Soldat bei einem Überfall geschnappt und von den Behörden rekrutiert. Die Strafe will man fallen lassen, indem man ihn in ein Gefängnis einschleust, bei dem es nicht ganz mit rechten Dingen zugeht. Dort werden nämlich illegale Kämpfe durchgeführt, bei denen Terry schon bald als Kämpfer um sein Leben ringen muss.

Überraschend ist zu erst mal, dass man hierfür Namen gewinnen konnte wie Tyrese Gibson, Terrence Howard und Jeremy Piven. Interessanterweise haben die alle Bock, obwohl Gibson ja leider noch nie der beste Schauspieler war.

Dafür weiß der in der Action…

Review by jaklairity ★★★½

top dawg vs the warden who controls the inmates

Review by Nachtwaechter ★★ 3

Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme in Pandemietagen für sowieso schon lange nicht im Soloflug vom Erfolg geküssten namhafte Namen. Ausgerechnet "Fast and the Furious" - Plappermaul Tyrese Gibson versucht es im Schlagetotgenre mit dem bösen Blick, schließlich prügelt er sich durch ein illegales Gefängnisturnier, um seiner eigenen Haftstrafe zu entgehen und, um der Dramatik die Ehre zu erweisen. Um sich im harten Knastalltag zu beweisen gibt ausgerechnet Terrence Howard den "Zuchthaus-Miyagi" mit eingebautem Zen-Philosophie-Kurs und der ewige "Ari Gold" Jeremy Piven, chargiert sich als korrupter Direktor um Kopf, Kragen und Schnurrbart. Lichtblicke im Klischeeinerlei liefert Nebenprügler und Choreograph Marrese Crump, der wieder einmal den Beweis für die fehlende Ehre der späten Geburt liefert. Seine freistiligen Skills hätten ihm zur Hochzeit solcher schienbeinschwingender Vertreter Minimum…

Review by Rose. 👽 ★½

Historia interesante, pero se pierde en lo aburrido y básico. Tyrese Gibson sigue y sigue intentando buscando que hacer fuera de Fast Furious, pero todo lo que hace es bastante malo. Aqui hace lo que puede y actua bastante bien.

Review by Foywonder ★★½

The System is like if you combined Death Warrant, Penitentiary, and Undisputed III but the filmmaker spends too much time convinced he’s making a hard-hitting thriller with something to say about racial injustice in the American prison system. It’s kind of hard to make any sort of message about the need for prison reform stick when your movie is about a man named Savage being forced into prison deathmatches against the likes of a Mexican cartel assassin with vampire fangs that won’t stop biting him while warden Jeremy Piven sits on a wooden throne, smoking stogies and cheering them on like he’s front row at Wrestlemania.

Tyrese Gibson stars as Savage, an ex-soldier who spends 75% of the movie looking…

Review by Christian Finck ★★

The System is a cheap prison thriller in which Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson fights with his fellow inmates behind bars. Gibson looks strangely beat up, but maybe that's part of the role. Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard and Entourage star Jeremy Piven have looked better too in the past. Rap star Lil Yachty also gets to run through the picture a few times.

Basically, everything here plays out as you've seen it many, many times before. Corrupt prison wardens and guards, various factions like "the Mexicans" and "the Nazis" (delightful with badly done swastika tattoos) and illegal underground fighting tournaments, which are also the highlight of the film. Which is not to say that they are particularly good. There…

Review by Breacher ½

Stumpf ist Trumpf. Selten so einen Schwachsinn gesehen. Nimmt sich übelt ernst, wirkt aber stellenweise wie eine schlecht Parodie. Jedes weitere Wort wäre Zeitverschwendung. Für Allesgucker und Tele5 Liebhaber.

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The System (2022) Movie Ending, Explained – Why was Terry really sent to Degnan?

The system (2022) plot summary & movie synopsis:.

Terry Lamont Savage is a highly decorated US Army soldier, who has served with distinction in conflict zones across the world. Now, out of the army, he has been abandoned by the system. He’s an impoverished man with a young daughter who has a serious medical condition for which he cannot afford treatment. Hence, he has chosen a life of crime to make ends meet. Following a drug bust, he is arrested and is looking forward to a 10-year prison sentence.

Degnan is a quintessential ‘hellhole’. The guards are brutal, inmates divide themselves into gangs, there are inter-gang rivalries and no new inmate is safe from getting hazed. Terry is secretly provided with a cellphone by the Commissioner, accessible only by him and through which he is to contact him and send him proof of what goes on inside. Terry is a lone wolf who refuses to join any gang. One day, he’s attacked by members of an Aryan Brotherhood in the prison where he manages to fend them off with help from a stranger. Following a stay in solitary confinement, Degnan is informed about ‘The Dungeon’ and that the Warden wants him to participate in it.

What is The Dungeon?

The top dog is also a close associate of the Warden. When Terry first arrives in Degnan, it is Freeway who is the reigning top dog. In the case of Freeway, he maintains law and order amongst the rest of the inmates through his gang and in turn is exempt from the penalties the other inmates are subjected to when they transgress. To train Terry for fighting in The Dungeon, the stranger who helped him, Bones, volunteers. Bones is the son of a martial arts grandmaster and learned how to fight from his father himself. He also trained Freeway in the past and wants to help Terry because he reminds him of a young man he once knew.

What is the Warden really running?

Along with The Dungeon, the Warden is also running a narcotics business, dealing in marijuana, cocaine, and PEDs. The workshop where it’s packed and sent out from is worked entirely by prisoners of Degnan, made to labor there for free. After Terry becomes the top dog, he is given the offer to get a share in the profits from this business, the first time for someone in his position.

Why was Terry really sent to Degnan?

Terry was never sent there as a mole by the Commissioner but to establish himself as the top dog in The Dungeon. The Commissioner had full faith in Terry’s abilities and even placed a bet with the Warden that he would become their best fighter. With Terry as their top dog, they can put him in matches against other top fighters from different prisons in their network and make a lot of money from the winnings. Terry was never going to get a pardon and his movement up the ladder in The Dungeon cemented the indefinite period of his stay at Degnan.

The System (2022) Movie Ending, Explained:

How does the dea get involved.

The Warden and the Commissioner get arrested and Terry’s evidence gets him a full pardon from his prison sentence. The medical costs of his daughter’s treatment are taken up by the State as well, meaning he will not have to return to a life of crime.

The excesses of the Warden of Degnan and what went on inside make a case for Congress to intervene in the functioning of privately-owned prisons and regulate their activities. Terry gets released from prison, walks out as a hero, and reunites with his daughter. He keeps his promise to Bones and Freeway by sending Janette as their lawyer to get them out of prison.

Read More: Soft & Quiet (2022) Movie Explained: Ending & Themes Analyzed

The system (2022) trailer.

The System (2022) Movie Links – IMDb , Rotten Tomatoes The System (2022) Movie Cast – Tyrese Gibson, Jeremy Piven, Terrence Howard

Where to watch the system.

Shahim aims to be associated with films in some capacity all his life. To him, Welles, Cassevetes, Tarkovsky and Haneke embody why cinema is the greatest of all art forms.

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A Shock To The System

It’s the voice that does it. The flat Michael Caine delivery that always seems to imply there are more angles than meet the eye. Caine plays the narrator and hero of “A Shock to the System,” and as he dryly describes his progress up the corporate ladder and his steps toward a refurbished love life, we realize that this is the voice of a man who thinks he can get away with murder, and may be right.

In the movie, Caine is Graham Marshall, next in line to head the department in the big New York ad agency where he works. But then a smarmy pest of a younger man ( Peter Riegert ) gets the job. Meanwhile, Caine’s life on the home front is an unendurable round of boredom and domestic psychological torture, engineered by his wife ( Swoozie Kurtz ).

One day while he is down in the basement replacing a fuse, Caine gets a nasty electrical shock, and it starts him to thinking.

“A Shock to the System” is the story of how Caine methodically eliminates the barriers to his professional success and personal pleasure. To say more would be to spoil some of the fun. The movie toys with us as it shows Caine almost getting caught, as it plants clues we’re sure somebody will find and as it introduces the character of a genial Connecticut police detective ( Will Patton ) who persists in asking uncomfortable questions. Will the cop or anybody else figure out what Caine is doing? By cleverly manipulating the conventions of the crime movie, director Jan Egleson and writer Andrew Klavan lead us up one garden path and down another.

Caine is a splendid movie actor, a consummate professional who is fun to watch in any film, because there is always a layer of irony and fun right there below the surface. That makes him especially entertaining as a villain; his charm makes his sins seem permissible, or at least understandable. He rarely plays villains we hate. More often, we want him to get away with his sins. Since the sins he commits in “A Shock to the System” are wicked ones, that sets up a nice tension inside the movie. We see things from his point of view, we are invited to identify with him and yet when the Connecticut detective comes calling, we think it’s about time.

The movie is filled with sneaky personalities and office traitors; it’s “ Crimes and Misdemeanors ” crossed with “ Wall Street .” Riegert is especially effective as the underling who becomes an insufferable overling. Kurtz has fun with the whining housewife who can’t leave well enough – or, indeed, anything – alone. And there is a nice performance by Elizabeth McGovern as the office colleague who provides a sympathetic shoulder for Caine to cry, and breathe, upon.

They have a scene together that’s a small masterpiece, one everyone can recognize from real life, where the two office workers meet at the nearby bar and find that they are in complete agreement that they are right and good and brilliant and unappreciated, and that everyone else is full of it. There’s some delicate comic acting here: Caine with his fragile male ego so easily bruised, and McGovern with psychic bandages and eyes that say “there, there.” Movies have been growing depressingly nice lately, and “A Shock to the System” is a refreshing change of pace. It isn’t a nice movie.

There once was a time when movies were allowed to be embittered, dark and brooding, and when evil was occasionally allowed to have a momentary victory. Now the conventional movie ends with a cheerleading scene. But “A Shock to the System” confounds our expectations and keeps us intrigued, because there’s no way to know, not even in the very last moments, exactly which way the plot is going to fall.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Michael Caine as Graham Marshall
• Peter Riegert as Robert Benham
• Swoosie Kurtz as Leslie Marshall
• Elizabeth McGovern as Stella Anderson
• Andrew Klavan

Directed by

• Jan Egleson

Produced by

• Patrick McCormick

Photographed by

• Paul Goldsmith
• Peter C. Frank
• William A. Anderson

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When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.

The System (2018)

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Nithari case similarities, and lessons

film: NETFLIX Sector 36

Director: Aditya Nimbalkar

Cast: Vikrant Massey, Deepak Dobriyal, Akash Khurana

Having a robust law and order system is essential, as is ensuring fairness. Director Aditya Nimbalkar’s ‘Sector 36’ takes up the infamous Nithari case and turns it into a hard-hitting drama.

Though the disclaimer at the beginning of the movie duly states that “all characters, places, names and events are purely fictional and any resemblance or similarity to actual events, places or persons is purely coincidental”, those who have followed the case can see the parallels.

The story follows the increasing cases of children going missing from a migrant colony, Rajiv Camp, but the three cops stationed at the police post cannot care less; they have learnt to turn a blind eye. That’s only till tragedy strikes closer home.

Vikrant Massey needs no validation for his craft after ‘12th Fail’, his last stupendous act. Here, as a man wronged, who turns out to be the devil incarnate, he leaves a powerful impact. Be it the first scene in the customised bathrobe of his employer, or enjoying nuts and cursing at the ‘Sab Banenge Crorepati’ show, or at the gate when he taunts the cop, he delivers superbly. The interrogation scene as he moves his hands over his hair stands out for, at this point, he makes the character his own.

In ‘Sector 36’, he gets a befitting opponent in Deepak Dobriyal. Pappiji of ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ has come a full circle. With his vast experience in theatre, Dobriyal mesmerises on how well he can emote. From his indifference to the plight of the parents looking for their missing kids to the steadfastness with which he tries to nab the culprit, he aces the act as Inspector Ram Charan Pandey. His expressions convey myriad emotions — you feel the helplessness of the father, the hope to bring justice to the wronged, and the dismay of being spurned by a senior.

The real heroes are, however, writer Bodhayan Roychaudhury and editor A Sreekar Prasad. For Roychaudhury to turn a widely reported story into such an intense drama is remarkable. The character writing is intriguing for the dual tones that are conveyed.

Some of the scenes stand out as chilling. The one where Pandey hitchhikes and is shown the address startles and scares. Then there is Akash Khurana as Balbir Singh Bassi and Darshan Jariwala as SP Rastogi, the two of the trio who have done ‘bade kaand’ in college and continue to have each other’s back.

Film editor Sreekar Prasad, winner of nine National Film Awards with hits like ‘Hindi Medium’ and ‘RRR’ to his credit, makes ‘Sector 36’ a cinematic win. No frills, no extra moves or songs, the story proceeds at a pace that keeps one hooked.

Aditya Nimbalkar comes with experience in the genre; he was assistant director in ‘Talvar’, ‘Haider’ and ‘Kaminey’. He spins this real saga to a sagacious screen outing.

The film, that comes a year after Surender Koli and Maninder Singh Pandher’s acquittal in the Nithari serial killings case due to lack of evidence, makes a valid comment on the sordid state of affairs. With the recent Kolkata case pointing to another shoddy probe, ‘Sector 36’ comes at an opportune time where we must sit up, take notice of the situation on the ground and come up with definitive remedial steps.

The film haunts long after one has seen it, and much of it is also due to the remarkable background score by Ketan Sodha.

The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five eminent persons as trustees. The Tribune, the largest selling English daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the newspaper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term. The Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).

Remembering Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia

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The System Reviews

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Screen Rant

The assessment review: a conceptually compelling sci-fi that takes too long to make its point [tiff].

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In the near future, if a couple wants to have children, they can only do so after being given the green light following a successful seven-day assessment. In the world created by writers John Donelly and Mrs. and Mr. Thomas (Nell Garfath Fox and Dave Thomas), there’s control of just about everything. This future society is also where people take pills to remain youthful and alive for far longer than typically possible. The Assessment, directed by Fleur Fortuné, is conceptually sound and looks incredible, but while it’s psychologically involved and provoking, it doesn’t go beyond the surface of its ideas.

The Assessment

Mia ( Elizabeth Olsen ) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel), an architect of the controlled world they live in, are desperate for a child. After passing initial examinations, Virginia ( Alicia Vikander ) is assigned to assess the couple in their home for a week. Virginia asks them invasive questions, watches Mia and Aaryan have sex, and pretends to be a child to learn more about what kind of parents they’d be. As the assessment approaches its end, the more Virginia works to psychologically torture the couple. The assessment and right to have a child brings its fair share of questions and tension.

The Assessment’s Worldbuilding & Cinematography Are Standouts

When it comes to building a near-future world and having us believe it exists , The Assessment does a fabulous job. Mia and Aaryan live in isolation, but what is in and around their home paints a picture of what this future looks like. It’s realistic enough to the world we live in today, but there’s a stiff, clinical feeling that permeates the characters’ surroundings that gives away the difference. This is a world that hasn’t erased the past, however, with the old world still existing right outside its borders.

Fortuné has a firm grasp of what this world is meant to represent and the feelings it evokes in us for the nearly two hours we’re immersed in it.

Mia’s mother left to return to the old world, and it’s a point of contention between her and Virginia, who seems awfully judgmental of that fact. When the couple’s friends come for dinner, in a stellar and riotously funny scene that includes an excellent Minnie Driver, the world expands with new information, and nothing is forced in that regard. Fortuné has a firm grasp of what this world is meant to represent and the feelings it evokes in us for the nearly two hours we’re immersed in it. I was in awe but trapped at the same time.

Magnus Nordenhof Jønck’s cinematography sharpens the colors of the costumes and set while making them dim enough to feel distant and cold. The coloring of the inside is a contrast to the vivid light of the sun and the clear blue of the ocean that sits just outside the house.

The Assessment Is Conceptually Sound But Fails To Deeply Explore Its Themes

The cast does great work regardless.

Mia struggles the most with the assessment because, despite wanting a child, she also craves the realness the process robs her of. This becomes even more clear as she’s faced with the confines of her situation — in the assessment and in her marriage. The Assessment explores themes of reality versus a controlled environment and what the characters are willing to do to remain in it out of fear of facing uncertainty in the old world. It’s fascinating to watch how this affects the characters’ dynamics, but the film doesn’t venture far enough to be wholly satisfying.

The Assessment is thoughtful and compelling, but it just doesn’t reach the heights needed to keep its momentum.

The assessment itself goes on for too long. By the time certain revelations come to light, there isn’t enough time to sit with them before the film ends. Characters make decisions that make sense for where their story goes, but there’s a lack of depth that leads to some narrative disengagement. When much of the film is about the chaos of Virginia’s actions, the assessment’s fallout doesn’t get any time to develop, and the ramifications for the characters thereafter feel underwhelming. The Assessment is thoughtful and compelling, but it just doesn’t reach the heights needed to keep its momentum.

This lack of exploration doesn’t affect the performances. Olsen has been making some great role choices, and here is no different. Mia is haunted by her mother’s departure to the old world and doesn’t seem fully settled into her life, something the assessment brings to the surface. Olsen portrays Mia with a frustrated impatience with a side of unexpected tenderness. Patel’s Aaryan is aloof, often disappearing into his simulation lab to create things that are almost real but not. He goes through a lot too, but he’s more patient and content to live in a world of his own creation.

Vikander is the highlight of the film. She’s completely unhinged as Virginia, oscillating between uncomfortable behaviors and wild tantrums to straight-laced corporate decorum in the span of minutes. It’s just too bad The Assessment fails to explore her character any further considering the ending. The film may have its faults, but it’s still a thoughtful rumination on the willingness to ignore reality and what people are ready to give up — including their dignity — to get what they want despite losing their freedoms. Fortuné has a good grasp of the world, even if she doesn’t push more than needed.

The Assessment premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is 109 minutes long and not yet rated.

In a future where parenthood is strictly controlled, a couple must undergo a rigorous seven-day assessment to prove their fitness to have a child. What begins as a hopeful journey spirals into a psychological nightmare, challenging their relationship and pushing the limits of their moral boundaries in a dystopian society.

• The film's cast is great, and Alicia Vikander is especially a standout
• The world and the way it visually looks is exciting
• The story takes too long to get to its point
• The film's themes could've been more deeply explored

Should You Watch ‘The Kitchen’? Review of Kano’s New Sci-fi Netflix Movie

Impressive visuals & a solid cast can’t entirely overcome its lack of conviction in its purpose & ideas. However, its watchability & urgency make it worth a look.

Picture: Netflix

The new dystopian drama, The Kitchen , is now streaming on Netflix globally, but should you watch it?

Premiering as the closing night film at the BFI London Film Festival , The Kitchen marks the feature film directorial debut for Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya ( Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah ) and Co-Director Kibwe Tavares, who previously won the Special Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for his short film Robots of Brixton . Kaluuya also produced the film alongside Executive Producer Michael Fassbender ( The Killer, Inglourious Basterds ) and co-wrote the script with writer Joe Murtagh ( Calm With Horses, Gangs of London ).

Editors Note: You can find Kasey Moore’s BFI Film Festival review here .

The film stars a pair of Top Boy standouts, Kane “Kano” Robinson & Hope Ikpoku Jnr, playing Izi and Staples, respectively, as they try to break out from their small-screen success into a possible big-screen future. Also starring is newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman as Benji, A Boy Called Christmas star Henry Lawfull, and football legend Ian Wright ( Ted Lasso ) as community DJ Lord Kitchener.

Described as a “love letter to London” in an “extreme version of our current world” by co-director Tavares, the story is built around a city in stark financial contrast. The rich live comfortably in their growing posh, digitally-enhanced existence while lower-class communities increasingly erode under the weight of gentrification. One such community, “The Kitchen”, is under constant attack in the war against housing projects. The city and private ownership is forcing the tenants of “The Kitchen” to vacate, but they simply won’t leave as they have no place else to go in a city that is leaving them behind. Frequent violent police raids strike fear into its population as many are taken or killed in the process while basic supplies like water and food have been cut off.

One such resident of The Kitchen , the downbeat and solitary man Izi, is desperately looking to move on and move out. Not feeling tied to his fellow residents, the community that raised him, or the rebel gangs that strike back against the city for their harsh treatment, Izzy hopes that his application to a safer, more advanced single-occupancy apartment will come through any day.

However, Izzy’s life and plans for the future are thrown with the appearance of young Benji, a boy reeling from the recent loss of his mother with no place to go. Meeting at Benji’s mother’s services at the high-tech funeral in which Izzy works, the two form a reluctant partnership. Benji was told by his mother prior to her death that his father lived in “The Kitchen” and Izzy knew his mother long ago. Trying to maintain a relationship at arms length, Izzy is compelled to look after the boy’s wellbeing, but doesn’t want to fully commit as to derail his plans for finally leaving for the life he wants to lead. Faced with the possibility that he could be the boy’s real father and his absence could tempt Benji to join with the community’s rebel gang, Izzy must make a decision that could alter his life forever.

Winner of 2 British Independent Film Awards for Best Effects and Best Production Design, The Kitchen succeeds in providing a shockingly plausible glimpse into our future city issues while creating an atmosphere of fear, confusion, and despair. The look and feel of a distant future London divided between a thriving wealthy class pushing into the digital age with security and comfort and a decaying, impoverished lower class feeling their lives shifting under their feet is well conveyed for the majority of the film, especially at the scale of the film’s budget.

The film also features solid performances from its leads Kane “Kano” Robinson & Jedaiah Bannerman. Their pairing gives the story meaning as they both are forced to grow up and take hold of their unstable lives at the bottom of the societal food chain. Bannerman’s character Benji also provides the audience a more in-depth look at the layers of living in “The Kitchen” with a sense of awe & terror that can only be provided by someone experiencing it for the first time.

However, while it can impress on the surface, The Kitchen seems to lack much depth in its messaging and lead characters. With most dystopian versions of our modern society, the setting would seem like a commentary on our current systems; scarcity of affordable housing for the poor as they are pushed into extreme poverty at the behest of the rich and connected who wish to blot out those their lifestyle has left behind. Though outside of a couple scenes, the film does little to understand what is happening to the people of The Kitchen , why they should have pride in living there, why they should fight back, and who exactly they should be fighting back against.

More specifically, when you try to make “The Kitchen” a character unto itself, it would make sense to define an ethos or a central character that provides the identity for their existence. The story attempts this in a vague & thin way with Lord Kitchener, the “voice” of the community as the resident DJ, but they never show his face or show him interacting with the people to know his role in their lives. He speaks in loose platitudes that speak of banding together without really saying why, especially when it could mean detainment & death. His later demise in the film tries to have a larger impact to the main cast, but it rings false as the story did not provide much emotional resonance to act as a rallying cry

The depth issues also stem to our protagonist Izzy as we don’t know enough of his backstory in key elements to follow his motivations more closely. Does he have a previous history with the gangs to warrant his apprehension for Benji to join with them? What was his relationship like with Benji’s mom? Did he resent her for getting out? Did that change his perspective and motivations for living in “The Kitchen”? More importantly, what does Benji’s presence provide for him that he was lacking in his past or present? What does Izzy want for his future?

Answers to some of these burning questions could have enhanced the drama and given purpose and meaning to several of the key actions in the film, especially the final moments. The implication of a darker ending for the leads doesn’t seem to fit when they don’t seem to deserve it, nor does the situation seem hopeless enough to justify it. Izzy knows the way out in a sense and finally gives in to his responsibility & emotions. Why is he – and by extension, the audience – punished for that awakening?

Overall, The Kitchen has a lot to admire in its world-building and tone setting but lacks the conviction and emotional depth to fully grab hold of its audience. With well-deserved accolades for production design and special effects on a smaller indie budget, one could see a bright future for the film’s creators with a more defined script behind them. However, this film seems like a trial run more than a complete thought. I look forward to what Kaluuya and Tavares will come up with next.

Watch The Kitchen on Netflix If You Like

• The Last Black Man in San Francisco
• A Thousand and One
• Boyz n the Hood
• Children of Men
• Total Recall

MVP of Netflix’s The Kitchen

Jedaiah Bannerman as Benji

While the script seems to lack definition for our first main character in Izzy, the role of Benji seems to provide the closest thing to a complete thought. Bannerman gives Benji a sense of wonder and wanting as his character tries to find stability and meaning in the next phase of his life after his mother’s death. The need for connection in a setting under constant pressure gives the film the most life in a less defined script.

Andrew Morgan is a film critic & podcaster with 20 years of experience on the sets & offices of film & television. Current podcast host of the entertainment review show, Recent Activity. He lives in the Northeast of the United States.

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