Brokedown Palace (1999)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Jeff "

  
  Brokedown Palace is a powerful drama film about two friends that are accused of drug smuggling and are sentenced to spend 33 years in prison. The prison they are sent to is nicknamed "broke down palace", and it's a prison that has an awful reputation. Brokedown Palace… More
  Brokedown Palace is a powerful drama film about two friends that are accused of drug smuggling and are sentenced to spend 33 years in prison. The prison they are sent to is nicknamed "broke down palace", and it's a prison that has an awful reputation. Brokedown Palace has a very good cast of actors, and I have to say, Kate Beckinsale really shines here, considering her body of work. This one of her best films, and I also thought that Claire Danes was terrific as well. Some parts of the film are uneven, but for the most part this is a very good drama film that is held together by the performances of its two leads. This is good film, one that has a good story. If you ever get the chance of watching Brokedown Palace, you should give it a shot. I normally don't care much for Beckinsale, although I liked in her in some of the films I've seen her in, this is a good little film. The film is nothing that will make you write home about, but for what its, it's a well made drama film that has an engaging story. Where the film tends to lack is when the two friends start questioning each other, once they're in prison. I felt that it was a bit too dramatic, but it was still good nonetheless. They could've just toned it down slightly, I think. A good film that has a few imperfections, but it has an engaging and interesting story with above decent acting. An interesting drama film worth seeing at least once.

• Dean M

  
  This women prison drama is powerful as the acting is excellent and the photography is stunning.

• Jason S

  
  This is a pretty good drama and the casting was great. I like that it lets you decide for yourself who did what at the end. It was a complete story.

• Dean !

  
  A very good film based on true events. Great performances from both actressess. Has a made for TV feel to it but the story is good and well told. One of those films you never heard of before that turns out to be very good. Cool soundtrack to.

• Leigh R

  
  Wonderful roles by Beckinsale and Danes.

• Nate Z

  
  [font=Arial][color=darkred]Foolish teens today, thinking they can smuggle [/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred]drugs into East Asiatic countries and get away with it. Foolish screenwriter for thinking we haven't seen this exact same situation done many times before and done… More
  [font=Arial][color=darkred]Foolish teens today, thinking they can smuggle [/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred]drugs into East Asiatic countries and get away with it. Foolish screenwriter for thinking we haven't seen this exact same situation done many times before and done many times better. And foolish audience for actually paying to go see this.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The movie desperately tries to be an emotional tale of the chains of friendship and perseverence, and it uses earlier examples like 'Midnite Express' and 'Return to Paradise' as staples. But the movie is devoid of emotion all together because of one glaring fault in the flick: the girls are complete idiots! Do they not have anything in their heads? Through out the whole movie they're given cliched and horrendous dialogue to spurt which certainitely doesn't help them rise from the intellectual pit they are in.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]You can't feel any attachment or connection becuase they are just so incompetent that on some cosmic level it's almost like they deserve what they get. And they didn't get much. The ending is rather ludicrous because it tries to have this strong emotional force but is only a whimper because there was never any attachment to the shallow and stupid characters in the first place.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]It's a common practice in movies to put the characters through harrowing and dangerous circumstances so that the audience will pull for them and be drawn closer to them emotionally. And in this genre nothing can do that like the good ole' Asiatic inhuman prison system so monstrously shown in previous films. But I don't know where these girls went or who their travel agent was, because where they stay is like the Club Med of all those horrible Asian prisons. They're almost livin' it up for some inhuman hell hole. It almost looks attractive to go to, do they have a brochure?[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The women-in-prison genre is a classic cheesy late night televison smorgusborg of gratuitous nudity and shower sequences that are almost the entire purpose of the film; which they are. 'Brokedown Palace' certanitely isn't going to go down this route. You won't see Claire Danes spounging off Kate Beckinsale's body during an on mass shower, or see the tough lesbian guard who runs her shop tight and mean, or the tough lesbian rival in the jail cells. What you do get is a script that tries to garner emotion but instead can only grasp for cheap mellodrama.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: C [/color][/font]

• Doctor S

  
  If you've seen one girls-in-foreign-country-planted-with-drugs-and-thrown-in-prison movie, you've seen 'em all. Problem is that while most of those predecessors are nudie shlockfests, this one wants to be taken seriously.

• *Kimberly *

  
  Really not so good. way too long of a boring buildup with a lackluster ending. also the backround music just lays a veneer of cheap to the entire film. not the worst movie I've ever seen, but pretty bad overall.

• Sunil J

  
  This movie is not perfect but it's dark and different and Claire Danes is great in it.

• Lee K

  
  This is another one of the movies i can watch over and over again. Claire Danes was really good in this with an excellent storyline!

• Janice :

  
  Fucking depressing >_<

• Leo L

  
  Great film! Great music! This film is an interesting insight into two best friends' "magical" trip-turned-hell.

• Anthony V

  
  Shows only the sleazy side of Thailand. Some interesting plot developments. Performances not bad. Okay time filler.

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