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The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This movie offered a promise of an unusual plot. That is where it stops. Even if you convince yourself that such a combination of characters and events could exist in real life, you will soon be disappointed with stiff acting, slow pace, unwanted scenes of symbolic dreams and too many flashbacks, jumping forward, more flash backs and more dreams. It all gets mixed up to the extent that you are not sure are we 'now', before, or before-before. All the stereotypes are there: a gay priest, butch female prison chief, an orphan with a history of sexual abuse, sadistic inmates, a hypocritical bishop, a dying brother, several shower scenes and a bloody ending. You get bombarded with improbabilities every step of the way: a boutique prison with less than 20 inmates, a love story between a prison guard and an inmate with regular sex in a prison cell, unexplained resurrection of a guy beaten to pulp whose skull was smashed against a solid ceramic sink, breaking it in two pieces, mysterious injection which knocks you out for two weeks and you wake up perfectly fit, a prison chief firing her staff on a request of an inmate janitor, and so on. I could not help myself thinking that most actors are gay friends of the movie directors/scriptwriters. If they were not effeminate, they were certainly too soft and unconvincing in their 'butch' roles. The main villain is simply boring. The only original moment in the movie was mercy killing by the priest. Hey, why use readily available lethal dose of morphine, and euthanize your dearest one quickly and painlessly, when we can drown them by force in a very unpleasant way and extend their agony? Finally, the ending -- famous ending of almost every gay-themed movie that I have ever seen... you guessed! It was not a happy one. However, there were plenty of scenes featuring dreamy green meadows, sunshine over idyllic towns and white clouds flying in the blue blue sky forever...

As a big fan of 'Shank', I have to say 'Release' was a disappointment.The plot was fragmented and not very interesting, a lot of things that are happening, you don't understand until later in the film.The depiction of prison life is also very unrealistic (for example, guards restraining an inmate to stop him from helping another inmate being beaten to death (or almost) by other inmates). I think the movie depicts more the public's nightmarish perception of prison, as opposed to prison life in reality.I also didn't like the main antagonist, played by Bernie Hodges. He's a decent actor, but I just could not buy him in this role. He was trying too hard to be smooth, laid back, while being manipulative and controlling. I just didn't believe it. The ending doesn't make sense to me either, but I can't give it away without spoiling.I will also mention positive aspects of this film: I liked Wayne Virgo's performance. I like this young actor, he leaves an impact. The lead character Daniel Brockelbank is decent enough too, as well as Garry Summers. It was also fun to see Simon Pearce appear in this movie (director and camera operator of 'Shank' and this movie). Some creepy nightmare scenes were also well done.

Cruel discussion. About faith, love and shadows of gestures. About sacrifice and its root. About silence as cage. It is a beautiful gray movie. Delicate as burnt paper. Bit as dust of cinnamon. Strange as a walk behind present. Story of a priest and his fake errors. A murder and life in prison. A love story. Silhouette of devil. And the punishment . A movie like melted lead. Few crumbs of Dostoievski, some drops from old British film, air from cold spaces of memory, game of a world. It is only a challenge. So, it is difficult to say if it is a good film, boring or mediocre. It is a picture. Bitter, salty, sour, with taste of gall.Nothing is alright. Every character - a broken doll. It is not a drama. Only a search. And a way without destination.

Terrible acting, uninviting characters (or more so stereotyped caricatures), awful camera work, contrived and completely unbelievable plot, tacky music, poor flow of scene transitions, the list just goes on... It makes a artsy fartsy high school film project seem more sophisticated in comparison. I was not sure if I was enduring an intended cheap, bad soap opera imitation exploiting on gay, religious, and prison themes just to attract certain groups of audience. This is basically artistic masturbation without any regard to giving the audience a involving story telling experience. My friend and I finally walked out after 30 minutes of this awful, awful movie, and we felt we should have been paid to endure this torturous bad film, instead of us paying to see it!