Jailbroken (2026) Review

After serving five years in prison, Joe (Bryan Larkin) is on of the eve of his released and looking forward to being back in the outside world. Even unwelcome new cellmate Naz (Armin Karima) can’t put a downer on matters as Joe gets ready for a pub crawl which he’s organised on his (clearly against institution regulations) mobile phone. However, one of the calls he receives informs him that his ex-wife and son have been kidnapped and Joe must play ball if he ever wants to see them again…

Prior to viewing Jailbroken, I read a synopsis which described it as an action thriller, so anyone expecting something along the lines of, say, Escape Plan, may be slightly thrown by eighty-odd minutes of a bloke in a confined space on and off his phone. The thrills come from the escalating desperation and increasing chaos, putting Vasily Chuprina’s film in the same ballpark as Tom Hardy’s Birmingham to London concrete pour epic Locke or, more recently, the clammy tension of Babak Anvari’s Hallow Road.

As with all single location movies, there’s the question of how the audience is going to stay engaged staring at the same four walls and Jailbroken’s confined space gives even less freedom to glide around than most of the other titles in this subgenre. Not to worry, as Raymond Friel’s screenplay balances drama in the cell with audio trauma via Joe’s cell phone, as he attempts to marshal his group of allies away from the clink in order to save his family and himself.

The voice talent employed is top notch, most notably The Descent’s Shauna Macdonald as Joe’s sister Kate, wearily dragged into familiar shenanigans but willing to put herself in danger for her brother. One sequence involving Kate’s pursuit of some very bad guys is given vivid life by her performance, painting the sequence effectively in the mind of the viewer while the project spends not a penny on chases and stunts.

Also, what self-respecting Brit crime thriller would miss out on casting David Hayman? Not this one! The iconic one is here, playing prison officer Smith, bringing his usual brand of smart, steely menace but adding a sympathetic edge as someone who’s seen it all and understands the mindset of inmates such as Joe. As I’d recently rewatched Bull, I did spend most of this film thinking “He’s got to be a bad guy, right?” and of course I’m not going to reveal whether or not the tough love is just a front for some evil intentions.

Likewise, is Karima’s Kaz just a card game obsessed newbie dealt the dubious hand of being Joe’s roommate for a day or is he there for a specific purpose? The screenplay ducks and dives and makes everyone behave suspiciously in some way without any wink-inflected dialogue or moustache twirling. Kaz is there to apply his knowledge of games and theory to Joe’s situation and together they might just work out a strategy which results in everyone staying alive. That’s if Joe doesn’t kill Naz first for annoying him.

As Joe, Bryan Larkin cuts a physically imposing figure and his permanent state of alertness, coupled with a temper that always seems a second from exploding, adds to the unease. The script also throws in several curveballs that threaten to bring the whole scheme down and finish off Joe for good and it’s fun to see how our antihero escapes yet another scrape. The final act piles on the betrayals and the plot swerves and although the resolution feels like there would be a subsequent reckoning in the hours afterwards, it closes on a satisfying if slightly contrived note.

As the appetiser to FrightFest Glasgow, there is a question to be asked as to whether or not this fits into the horror theme but there’s enough heinous behaviour, plus a splash or two of the old red stuff, along the way for it to qualify as horror adjacent. If you’re looking for constant slam bang business and folks getting referred to as “slaaaag,” there are other, far less considered films of that ilk out there. As it stands, Jailbroken is a compact, sturdily constructed series of trials played out with conviction, kept on the straight and narrow with some impactful writing and unobtrusive direction.

Movie Rating:

Jailbroken trailer