The Wrath of Cain

I am a public defender for Clark County Las Vegas. I grew up in Bank Head, Atlanta. I was blown away by this film. Not only could I relate to this movie, I watch this story in real life everyday. Generations of men, fathers and sons in the same prison. I wish everyone of them could see this film. Because it was so accurate, I decided to do some research on the film maker Ryan Combs. After reading his bio I understood why this movie was right on point. I had my 18 year old son watch it and he found it just as entertaining. I don't think I've seen to many contemporary films that are this real.

Ving Rhames is one of my all time favorite actors and he never let's me down, and with this film he remains at the top of my list. I don't normally write reviews for movies, but I was so moved by this one, I felt obligated.

I recently watched Caged Animal (2010) on Tubi. The storyline follows Cain, a crime boss serving a life sentence in prison who used to run things on the inside before essentially going into retirement. The prison warden asks him to talk to the youth to prevent them from following his path. He's reluctant to help until his son is thrown in jail with him. Now in need of some favors, he reluctantly agrees to help the warden in exchange for assistance with his son's prison assignments.

This film is directed by Ryan Combs (Double Tap) and stars Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Nipsey Hussle (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), Robert LaSardo (The Mule), and Jeanette Branch (Power Book II: Ghost).

Caged Animal is uneven, mixing glimpses of greatness with some scenes that are complete disasters. The cast is solid, with Ving Rhames delivering an excellent performance with presence and depth, and Nipsey Hussle reminding me of a young Snoop Dogg. Unfortunately, the fight scenes and shootouts are poorly executed. The storyline had potential and works better in some ways than others, but I did enjoy the full-circle conclusion.

In conclusion, Caged Animal is an average prison drama that's worth watching only for Ving Rhames and/or prison genre fans. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend it only with the appropriate expectations.

While "Wrath of Cain" (aka "Caged Animal") is not the best of prison movies, it should be stated that there are far worse prison movies out there.

Story-wise then director Ryan Combs didn't really manage to procure a particularly outstanding story. The storyline is quite straight forward, running on autopilot most of the time. There was a single surprise towards the ending of the movie, but other than that it was linear and scripted.

Now, I can't claim to be particularly familiar with life in prison, the code of conduct in prisons or the lingo used, but as a movie, "Wrath of Cain" was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be.

Ving Rhames seemed to be running on autopilot throughout the movie, and I think he didn't really put in all that he could have. But in overall, the performances in the movie were adequate all-round given the genre.

Not an outstanding movie by any milestone, but it is still entertaining enough for a single viewing, just don't get your hopes up too high. If you enjoy prison movies you might get something out of "Wrath of Cain".

I'm certain that if a reviewer was to put in a little bit of research they would be easily able to slate this film. I myself was surprised at the end of the film to be told that this was based on a true story as at times the plot did seem a bit far fetched.

Do not let this detract from the entertainment factor of the film however. I personally enjoy prison films and for me this is one of the better ones. The acting was credible on the whole, although the fight scenes (few that there are) did look a bit staged. The storyline was enough to keep the viewer interested although at times it did jump back and forwards without making it clear that it was doing so. There are a few moral and religious undertones throughout the film which I personally found to be a positive for the film.

A decent prison flick.

WRATH OF CAIN is a low budget prison outing for PULP FICTION star Ving Rhames. I think it's fair to say that he's going through the motions in this film which is entirely cheap and disappointing, not even convincing when it comes to staging typical life in a prison. Rhames is a hulking convict who is sent down and gets embroiled in prison politics where there's always a beating or violent attack just around the corner.

The script is clichéd and derivative and the filming style fails to make the cheapness turn into something halfway convincing. Rhames is on autopilot and those familiar actors who do show up in support like Robert Patrick and Robert LaSardo feel similarly uninvolved in things. I didn't care much for the lazy hip hop soundtrack either or the general way in which the producers are content to emulate greater films than offer something genuinely new. WRATH OF CAIN is a real bore.