Review of Sleepers (1996) by Alvin Y — 20 Oct 2010

I actually like this movie a lot than what I saw these days. Yes, it has an all-star great cast, and all of them did a good job on their performances. I also liked how this movie had 4 stories not 1, we start at Hell's Kitchen in New York, we get to meet these boys and their neighborhood, that part reminded me of Scorsese's âMean Streetsâ? and âGoodfellasâ?. Then it proceeds to the detention center as we know that they accidentally hit a guy, that part reminded me of Frank Darabont's âShawshank Redemptionâ? & âThe Green Mileâ?. It jumps then ahead 13 years later, we could see two of them killed one of the guards, and the other two were freed as well, well that part was like some gangster movies that I've seen lately. And Finally, to the courtroom drama part which I think is very positive and no referential to any movie that I've seen before. When it ends, I felt that the 2 hour + that I've wasted is not really wasted at all, I think I also learned something about the story of this film as well. To also mention about the abuse part, these boys are actually not abuse, they were beaten but not raped.

To end this, âSleepersâ? is a very well done movie. Having great performances and great storyline that we could really stick in our seats as we watched it and look how these 4 friends will change their lives forever. The drama of this movie just works in that level and goes straight-forward and we get to meet all the characters and their story to these 4 friends. And since it is based on a true story, I think some of the scenes including in the detention center are fictionalized, well that's OK to me, still it was a very satisfying flick.