Written And Directed by Paul T. Scheuring
Archaleta: "Ah, so you're the one who knows what it's going to take for this society to evolve."
Travis: "I'm just regurgitating what people have been saying for a long time."
If you've ever of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment from the 1970s or seen the 2001 German movie, Das Experiment, then The Experiment will be familiar enough to you. For those unfamiliar, here's a simple rundown.
A group of men from all different walks of life agree to take part in $1000 a day 'experiment' in which they are either prisoners or prison guards and if they can handle the psychological pressure, then they will be a lot richer for the experience, both mentally and financially by mostly the latter.
Taking part in this experiment includes anti-war protester guy named Travis Cacksmackberg (Adrien Brody) and a 40 something man named Michael Barris (Forest Whitaker) and at first, it seemed like the two were going to strike up a friendship but the moment both men fell into their respective roles as prisoner and prison guard, the dynamic changed in quite a brutal way.
Michael is a man somewhat emasculated by a domineering mother through flashbacks and as soon as as he becomes a prison guard along with some others, he's not above making his newfound power known to the prisoners ans he soon locks horns with Travis, who has a reluctant leader of the prisoner.
Travis for the most part did try to retain his pacifist ways but between being physically humiliated by an increasingly unhinged Michael and the guards and having to save another prisoner, Oscar (Jason Lew) from nearly being sexually assaulted by fellow guard Chase (Cam Gigandet), its not surprising that the experiment then resulted in a full scale prison riot with everyone more scarred by the events of the movie than beforehand.
Although I've heard the German original is the better movie when it comes to tackling this particular real life experiment, I did like this movie quite a bit. I think Adrien Brody did a solid job in making Travis an engaging protagonist but Forest Whitaker definitely delivered the stronger performance of the two.
The other characters, both prisoners and prison guards alike somewhat made up the numbers and there was at least one character who went from prison guard to prisoner in order to showcase Michael's lack of mercy. There was also a brief love story for Travis with the only female character named Bay but honestly, it's a wasted role for Maggie Grace and added nothing to the overall story.
- As well as Das Experiment and this movie, there's another movie called The Stanford Prison Experiment with Ezra Miller that covers this general idea as well.
- Originally this movie was meant to have Elijah Wood but he left a few days of shooting and presumably was replaced with Adrien Brody.
- The real experiment ended after six days but here despite ending early, they all got their $14,000.
- Paul T. Scheuring who wrote and directed this also worked on Prison Break.
The Experiment is a solid enough take on the infamous Stanford Experiment and seemingly a solid adaptation of a much stronger original movie. Both Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker are on fine form and if you like your prison themed movies, it's a good one to watch.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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