This is an exciting and well-acted dramatization of the story of Henri Charrière, a French thief famous for his imprisonment in and ambitious escape from a brutal penal colony in French Guiana. It falls a hair short of the popular Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman version from 1973, perhaps because we know the arc of the story beforehand and a few compelling beats are excised (the brief stay in the leper colony, for example). But it is a fine film in its own right. The portrayal of the jungle prison, where the harsh indifference of nature is only outpaced by the ruthlessness of man, is appropriately sweltering and visceral. The film, a hard R, pulls no punches in submerging the audience in the blood, sweat, tears, and pestilent filth the characters endure. Charlie Hunnam, dashing and fit, and Rami Malek, nervy and watchful, are capable, if less iconic, replacements for McQueen and Hoffman, and the evolution of their chemistry is terrific.

This was a good watch. I liked the chemistry between Hunnam and Malek which made the film but overall there are some scenes that go on for long and the escape from the jungle was not very exciting. I can understand that the start of the movie before imprisonment was meant to make audience sympathetic to Papillon but that portion could have been cut and we would have still not missed much as that part is NEVER hinted in two big imprisonments rather we always go back to Malek's character. The finale completely forgets Malek's character, I would have loved if they reflected on him a little more in the end. The movie overall is very engaging with good pace though by nature it gets repetitive.

6/10

The original is a Awesome

This is like the shiny bright thing you show to a toddler to distract them.

C+

I enjoyed it, a good story and Hunman is just an attractive lead. It feels real and gritty, there's a nice attention to authenticity that kept me very interested from start to finish. I didn't see the original film, and this version I saw was cut by Chinese censors for a crazy 24 minutes too. Not sure what I missed, but I had a really good time with it regardless. The cinematography was just fine though, could have had more impact I think, I sense they got too inspired by the original in that regard seeing a trailer of it. It's all around well made though, solidly directed, nice sets and score, serving the story well.

B+