Critic Reviews

• David Jenkins, Time Out

  Reg Traviss's overlong thriller spews out clichés from the off.

• Philip French, Guardian [UK]

  Everything is too extreme. But there's a core of honesty here.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  Screwed may be based on the true-life experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson but it seems to serve up every available cliché from the handbook of tough nut British prison dramas.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  Watchable collection of prison movie clichés, enlivened by strong performances and pacey direction.

• Derek Malcolm, This is London

  Here we get everything nasty piled up like a great bag of detritus, and hardly a hint of anything positive at all.

• David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]

  It's all been done before, and done better, but its look at how prison warders are failed by the system demands our attention.

• Charlie Lyne, Ultra Culture

  The filmmakers lose their bottle about 45 minutes in.

• David Aldridge, Radio Times

  Noel Clarke shines as a cocky prisoner, and the film's best scenes are those in which he goes eyeball to eyeball with D'Arcy's greenhorn guard.

• Cath Clarke, Guardian [UK]

  The violence is unrelenting, scene after scene of it, and spectacularly unenlightening: like watching rottweilers gone feral.

• Simon Crook, Empire Magazine

  D'Arcy and Harper excel and there's the odd punch packed, but otherwise it's an identity parade of prison clichés you've seen a thousand times.

• Robbie Collin, News of the World

  Its grimy authenticity clicks like a rusty mortice lock.

• Neil Smith, Total Film

  A thriller which begins promisingly before descending into a slough of old lag clichés.

Read all 12 critic reviews