Escape from Pretoria

I was really looking forward to this movie. However I don't understand why filmmakers don't hire local talent of which there is an abundance. The fake South African accents just ruined this movie for me. As an English speaking South African the exaggerated accents are completely off putting. I don't know a single South African English or Afrikaans speaking who sounds like this. It makes the whole thing seem like a parody unfortunately.

Why people are giving low rate to all the latest films that Daniel Radcliffe have been shot. I like this movie, its not boring at all. The plot is very interesting, the soundtrack chosen very good. actors played their role perfectly. I don't know what else people want from the movie !!!

They should have filmed it in South Africa, Australian landscape and cities are totally different. Strange accent trying to mimic English spoken by Afrikaners - failed! And that Harry Potter guy... meh. Besides that it is slow, too long and too boring.

Outstanding performance by Our boy Daniel Radcliff. I truly enjoyed the movie. Sometimes i felt myself also a living being there. It's delightful to hear that this movie Based on the real-life prison break. Thriller ! Thriller ! Thriller !

Not two weeks after "Guns Akimbo" Daniel Radcliffe rewards us with yet another great performance, this time in a tightly made, old-school B-like jailbreak thriller set against a historically true background. Francis Annan's "Escape from Pretoria", while flawed in some areas, gives legitimate thrills and keeps you excited all throughout, as you follow the trio of men on the quest of freedom. "Escape from Pretoria" is based on the prison escape of two political captives from Pretoria Central Prison in South Africa in 1979. The movie starts with an introduction of the political events taking place in South Africa during that time, more precisely the Apartheid. Soon after Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber) get arrested and sent to prison for 8 or more years, there they meet politically related Denis Goldberg (Ian Hart) and their third accomplice Leonard Fontaine (Mark Leonard Winter). Most of the time we spent inside the prison, following the routine and efforts of our three main heroes - the story focuses a lot on creating suspense and in doing so has it has created many good and very enjoyable sequences. It's all about the thrill of finding the means to reach freedom. "Escape from Pretoria" is a neat and successful exercise in a familiar formula, utilized since way back when, Clint Eastwood's "Escape from Alcatraz" has the same qualities. Includes also great attention to detail. The pacing's nice and even, with some great pick-ups here and there. With the focus being on atmosphere, excitement and genre mechanics, the script is lacking in the area of depth, more precisely the characters, there's not a lot of set-up or backstory for them. However, the performances make up for that. Visually, the movie excels as well, using various cool camera tricks and touching up the suspense with technical means, the cinematic language is on point all throughout. "Escape from Pretoria" is a great procedural thriller, a successful execution of genre mechanics, a carefully planned movie about planning. If it lacks depth, it definitely possesses a good entertainment value, further fulfilled with great acting work. Good prison-set movies don't come out all that often. My rating: 7/10.

The movie is about anti apartheid prisoners who hatch a plot to break out of a prison during the apartheid era in South Africa. It is heavily influenced by A Man Escaped n Le Trou, especially in terms of sheer minimalism. The acting is good but the lack of stereotyped sadist wardens n cops is missing. As a fan of prison escape films n especially the ones mentioned above, I liked this film.

I decided to watch this after reading a little bit of the story and what a truly great outstanding film with a brilliant cast to match the story and the conditions of the prison and to be based on a true story how they managed to escape and having to make different keys I would never think it would even work but it proved me wrong and all the risks what they done without getting caught that's why I rated it 10/10.