The greatest escape adventure ever told
2017-09-07
N/A
134 min
Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.
Competent is the word of the day here. The acting's not great but it's competent. The style isn't blowing my mind but it's shot competently.
Papillon is the sort of movie that will have its lead hit near-anorexia to express the level of torture his character has suffered, but can't have him grow a beard past sexy manicured stubble despite being isolated in a cell with nothing for two whole years. It commits hard to half-measures. A very unusual paradox that leads to a movie that's very, very okay.
Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.
