MUET Assignment: Movie Review

Prison Break

Name : Yap Wei Qian Class : Lower Six UTM Teacher's Name : Clemence Chong

Contents

1. About The Director.3 2. About The Movie i. ii. iii. iv. Season Synopses of the Movie....4-6 Characters (Casting)7-8 Setting9 Awards...9

3. Themes.10 4. Moral Values....10 5. Critical Comments....11 6. References12

About The Director

Paul T. Scheuring was born on 20November 1968 in Aurora, Illinois, UnitedState. He had attended the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television. Before he success, he has worked as a courier, cable installer and factory worker.

Nowadays, he is a well-known American screenwriter and the director for many films and television shows. His first success movie is 36K which was released on the year 2000. He is the director, editor and writer of the movie. He is also the director for the movie A Man Apart (2003), the creator and the director of television series Briar & Graves (2005-2009), the writer of Mexicali (2008) and the director and writer of The Experiment (2010).

Prison Break, it was Scheurings first attempt for television [Link] idea was given by his female colleague. He approached the Fox network with the script but was turned down due to its unconventional storyline. However, Fox backed Prison Break's production and the first episode was aired approximately twenty months after Scheuring had written the script. It wason 29 August 2005 after the successful premiere of Loston 2004.

About the Movie Season Synopses of the Movie

Season 1: The first season follows the rescue of Lincoln Burrows, who is accused of murdering Terrence Steadman, the brother of the Vice President of the United States. Lincoln is sentenced to death and is incarcerated in Fox River State Penitentiary where he awaits his execution. Lincoln's brother, brilliant structural engineer Michael Scofield, is convinced of Lincoln's innocence and formulates an escape plan. In order to gain access to Fox River, Michael commits an armed robbery which results in his being sentenced to Fox River. In prison, Michael befriends the prison doctor Sara Tancredi when he pretends to suffer from Type 1 diabetes, in order to gain daily access to the prison's infirmary. The brothers' fight to ward off the execution is aided by their lifelong friend Veronica Donovan, who begins to investigate the conspiracy that put Lincoln in jail. However, they are hindered by covert agents, members of an organization known as The Company. The Company was responsible for framing Lincoln, and they did so because of Lincoln's father, Aldo Burrows, and his former connections to the company. The brothers, along with six other inmates, Fernando Sucre, Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin, David "Tweener" Apolskis, John Abruzzi, and Charles "Haywire" Patoshik, who come to be known as the Fox River Eight, escape in the season finale.

Season 2: The second season begins eight hours after the escape, focusing mainly on the eight escapees. They split up and journey to locations across the country with the authorities close behind them as they each pursue their individual goals. Brad Bellick gets fired from the prison where he worked as a guard and chases after the inmates himself for the reward money. Several of the escapees reunite in search of a large cache of money buried long ago by another prisoner. Federal agent Alexander Mahone is assigned to track down and capture the eight fugitives, but is revealed to be working for The Company, which wants all eight men dead. When Sara discovers her dead father, Governor Frank Tancredi, she meets with Michael, remaining with him 4

as the brothers try to bring down the current President, a Company member. To ensure the brothers' safety, Sara allows herself to be arrested and faces trial. During the trial, the testimony of former Secret Service agent Paul Kellerman, who used to work for the Company-controlled President, exonerates Lincoln and Sara. Several of the escapees are killed or recaptured, but the brothers make it to Panama. Michael, TBag, Mahone, and Bellick are arrested by the Panamanian authorities and imprisoned at the Penitenciara Federal de Sona.

Season 3: The third season follows both Michael inside Sona and Lincoln on the outside in Panama. Sona is a prison that has been run by the inmates and guarded only from the outside since a riot the year before. Burrows is quickly contacted by Gretchen Morgan (a Company operative who was in charge of operations in Panama) who kidnapped his son LJ and Sara Tancredi, the woman Michael loves. He is told that The Company wants Scofield to break James Whistlerout of Sona. The season follows

Michael and Whistler's trials in formulating an escape plan, as Michael has to deal with extreme tension and as Lincoln deals with the Company's operative Gretchen Morgan. Sucre gets a job at the prison to aid Michael in his escape plan. When Lincoln attempts to rescue Sara and LJ following a clue provided by Sara, Gretchen claims to have beheaded Sara and sends Lincoln a head in a box as a warning. As the season ends, the pair manage to escape along with Mahone, and another inmate, Luis, leaving behind several accomplices including T-Bag and Bellick. Sucre's identity is discovered by a prison guard and he is thrown into Sona just after the escape. LJ and Sofia (who was captured for a guarantee that Whistler would go with her) are traded for Whistler, and Michael seeks revenge against Gretchen for Sara's death.

Season 4 (The Final Break): The major storyline for the fourth season concerns a team recruited by Homeland Security agent Don Self to obtain Scylla. Although the team initially believes it to be the Company's "black book", it is later revealed to contain information on an advanced renewable power cell. Over the course of the first half of the season, the team obtain cards to access Scylla, and break into Company headquarters to steal it. In the first half, Sara is discovered to be alive, Bellick is killed, and Self is revealed to be 5

a double agent and is planning to sell Scylla to the highest bidder. Reluctantly, Lincoln decides to join the Company to get it back, while Michael suffers from a hypothalamic hamartoma. He is treated and operated on by the Company. He later learns that his mother, Christina is still alive and was an agent of the Company, who is revealed to acquire Scylla to sell to the highest bidder. Eventually, the series' main storyline of the past 4 seasons ends in Miami, where Scylla is recovered by Michael and the team, the General and the Company are taken down, and Christina is killed. The last 2 episodes of the season represent the series finale and aired as the television movie Prison Break: The Final Break. In the movie, a story is told explaining what happened following the take down of the General and the Company (before the fouryear flash-forward) and the strange scar on Sara's shoulder. This story involves the incarceration of Sara in Miami-Dade county penitentiary due to budgetary cutbacks; there are cots installed there acting as the county jail. With the General and T-Bag in the adjacent Men's facility, the General wants Sara dead and offers a $100,000 bounty. Michael hears of the bounty and devises plans for Sara's escape. In the end, knowing that he is dying from a brain tumor, Michael sacrifices himself for his brother, wife and child.

Characters (Casting)
Wentworth Miller Michael Scofield (Season 1-4)
Michael is Lincoln's brother and worked as a structural engineer before devoting full-time to his brother's case. In order to save his brother's life, Michael creates an elaborate plan to help his brother escape from prison.

Dominic Purcell Lincoln Burrows (Season 1-4)

Lincoln is a high school drop-out and a convicted felon, who is wrongfully accused of and charged with the murder of Terence Steadman, the brother of the Vice President of the United States.

Robin Tunney Veronica Donovan (Season 12)

Veronica is Michael and Lincoln's childhood friend who decides to review Lincoln's case at Michael's insistence. She becomes Lincoln's lawyer and appears as a major character in the first season.

Marshall Allman Lincoln "L. J." Burrows Jr. (Season 14)

L. J. is the teenage son of Lincoln Burrows and is greatly affected by his father's death sentence. He is forced into hiding after he becomes the target of the people who want Lincoln dead.

AmauryNolasco Fernando Sucre (Season 1-4)

Sucre develops a friendship with Michael during time at Fox River State Penitentiary, where he was his cell-mate. He becomes Michael and Lincoln's ally, and provides comic relief to the show. His character's story focuses mainly on his wish to reunite with his girlfriend.

Robert Knepper Theodore T-Bag Bagwell (Season 1-4)

T-Bag appears in all four seasons of the series as a cunning, violent, and manipulative psychopath, consistently underestimated by those around him. T-Bag will stop at nothing to get what he wants and lets nothing stand in his way.

Peter Stormare John Abruzzi (Season 12)

Due to his role as the leader of a Chicago mafia, Abruzzi became a prominent figure at Fox River State Penitentiary. He agrees to provide an escape plane for Michael in exchange for the location of the eyewitness to his crimes, Otto Fibonacci.

Rockmond Dunbar Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin (Season 12, 4)

Desperate for his family, C-Note blackmails Michael at Fox River to join his escape team.

Wade Williams Brad Bellick (Season 14)

Appearing in all four seasons, Bellick was introduced as the captain of Fox River's correctional officers.

Sarah Wayne Callies Dr. Sara Tancredi (Season 1-4)

Sara is the prison doctor at Fox River and the daughter of Governor Frank Tancredi, who is linked into the plot that brings Lincoln to Fox River. She takes a liking to Michael and eventually aids his escape. She ultimately joins them on the run.

Paul Adelstein Paul Kellerman (Season 12, 4)

Kellerman was introduced as a Secret Service agent working for the Vice President to make sure that the execution of Lincoln Burrows goes smoothly. Eventually, his character changes from that of a villain to an ally to Michael and Lincoln.

William Fichtner Alexander Mahone (Season 24)

Introduced as an FBI agent in the second season, Mahone's assignment was to locate the fugitives. Mahone is intellectually matched with Michael and his background unfolds as the series progresses. In the third season he finds himself incarcerated with Michael in Sona and is eventually forced to become his ally through the final season.

Chris Vance James Whistler (Season 34)

Whistler is incarcerated in Sona for the murder of the Mayor's son and holding The Companys secret.

Robert Wisdom Norman "Lechero" St. John (Season 3)

Appearing as a major character in the third season, Lechero is a prisoner at Sona who rules the prison as a dictator and a Panamanian drug kingpin.

Danay Garcia Sofia Lugo (Season 34)

Sofia was introduced in the third season as Whistler's girlfriend. At the beginning of the fourth season, it is revealed she has started to date Lincoln Burrows.

Jodi Lyn O'Keefe Gretchen Morgan (Season 34)

Introduced as "Susan B. Anthony", Gretchen is an operative for the company who is in charge of ensuring the escape of James Whistler.

Michael Rapaport Donald Self (Season 4)

Self is a Department of Homeland Security special agent who teams up with the gang to take down The Company.

Setting
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Chicago, Illinois

The majority of the first season of the series was filmed on location in and aroundChicago.
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Joliet, Illinois

After it was closed down in 2002, Joliet Prison became the set of Prison Break in 2005, standing in as Fox River State Penitentiary on screen.
y

Toronto, Ontario

Exterior scenes of season 1 were filmed in this area.

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Dallas, Texas

Many of these locations were used to represent various American towns.

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Panama City, Panama

Several of the exterior scenes with Lincoln and Gretchen negotiating the escape from the Panama jail were shot in the Casco Viejo quarter of Panama City.
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Pensacola, Florida

For the final three episodes of the second season, filming took place in Pensacola, Florida to represent Panama.
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Los Angeles, California

The forth season was filmed in this area.

Awards
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ALMA Awards

Jess Salvador Trevio won the Outstanding Director of a Television Drama or Comedy in 2006.
y

Australian Film Institute (International Awards) Casting Society of America, USA

Dominic Purcell won the Best Actor in 2007

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John Papsidera, Wendy O'Brien and Claire Simon won the Best Dramatic Pilot Casting in 2006.
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People's Choice Awards, USA

Prison Breakwon the Favorite New Television Dramain 2006.

Themes
An engineer, Michael Scofield installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to help his brother, Lincoln Burrows, a death-row inmate who insists he did not commit the crime for which he has been sentenced to die and help him escape. Lincoln Burrows is on death row for the murder of the vice president's brother. He insists he's innocent and only his brother Michael Scofield believes him. As an engineer who helped design the prison where Lincoln is being held, Michael takes drastic measures to help his brother. He gets himself arrested and sent to the same prison so that with his knowledge of the building the two of them can escape together. However, while inside, Michael discovers a massive conspiracy that is determined to see Lincoln's sentence carried out. Breaking out will be more difficult than he thought, but he's still going to try.

Moral Values
 Love

The brothers love between Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield.  Responsibility

As a father, Lincoln Burrows always cares about his son, Lincoln Junior Burrows.  Trust

As a friend, Michael Scofield always believes in Fernando Sucre and asks him to do everything which is very important.

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Critical Comment

This looks like a show that will be a hit!,29 August 2005 Author:SonicStuartfrom Kansas City, MO I have been seeing so many advertisements for this show and I decided to check it out and it's surprisingly good! The acting is well done and everything else. The show is about a guy named Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) who gets arrested and framed for a crime that he didn't commit and now his brother, Michael (Wentworth Miller) installs himself in prison for one reason, to get his brother out of jail! FOX had better not cancel this one! Because I'm tired of the FOX network canceling all these other good shows that have potential and they put them on nights where they can't win and they have way too many reality shows! Plus all the good shows that FOX cancels last for 1 or 2 seasons like "Tru Calling", "Dark Angel", "Fast lane" just to name a few. But hopefully this show might last with all the good reviews from all the newspapers and magazines. User Rating: 10/10 BOTTOM LINE: FOX SHOULD HOLD ON TO THIS ONE!

Awesome!!!!!!!,22 November 2005 Author:paodelatorrefrom Ecuador Some people say this show is for 24 fans... I'm not a 24 fan... As a matter of fact I don't like 24 at all!... But I so love this show... I mean, 1 hour is not enough... Gosh, if you watch one episode you'll be attached to the show... It's great!... It keeps you wandering what's gonna happen... and most of the time you THINK you know what's gonna happen but the twists are so cool!!! You could never imagine that coming... The characters: they have this established personality, they're unique, they're not like the typical criminal, the typical good girl and bad boy... they're completely different... The story lines are awesome too... This show is well written, directed and produced...So I really recommend this show... I love it!

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Reference
Prison Break Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Link] Paul Scheuring Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Link] Prison Break (TV Series 2005-2009) IMDb [Link] Prison Break (2005) Full cast and crew [Link] Prison Break (2005) IMDb user reviews [Link]

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