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IMDbPro

Doing Hard Time

  • Video
  • 2004
  • R
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
2K
YOUR RATING
Sticky Fingaz, Boris Kodjoe, and Michael Kenneth Williams in Doing Hard Time (2004)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:47
1 Video
16 Photos
Prison DramaActionDrama

A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father (Boris Kodjoe) gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.

  • Director
    • Preston A. Whitmore II
  • Writer
    • Preston A. Whitmore II
  • Stars
    • Boris Kodjoe
    • Michael Kenneth Williams
    • Sticky Fingaz
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.8/10
    2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Preston A. Whitmore II
    • Writer
      • Preston A. Whitmore II
    • Stars
      • Boris Kodjoe
      • Michael Kenneth Williams
      • Sticky Fingaz
    • 25User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Doing Hard Time
    Trailer 1:47
    Doing Hard Time

    Photos15

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    Top cast42

    Edit
    Boris Kodjoe
    Boris Kodjoe
    • Michael Mitchell
    Michael Kenneth Williams
    Michael Kenneth Williams
    • Curtis Craig aka: Durty Curt From Detroit
    • (as Michael K. Williams)
    Sticky Fingaz
    Sticky Fingaz
    • Eddie Mathematic
    Reagan Gomez-Preston
    Reagan Gomez-Preston
    • Rayvon Jones
    Jazsmin Lewis
    Jazsmin Lewis
    • Robin
    William L. Johnson
    William L. Johnson
    • Clever
    Marcello Thedford
    Marcello Thedford
    • Toure Smalls
    Emilio Rivera
    Emilio Rivera
    • Officer David Teal
    Chenoa Maxwell
    Chenoa Maxwell
    • Elise
    Charles Malik Whitfield
    Charles Malik Whitfield
    • Armand
    Patrice Fisher
    Patrice Fisher
    • Lt. Elaine Lodge
    Steven Bauer
    Steven Bauer
    • Det. Anthony Wade
    Giancarlo Esposito
    Giancarlo Esposito
    • Captain Pierce
    Michael Kimbrew
    Michael Kimbrew
    • Raymond Carver aka: Razor
    Kelsey Shaw McNeal
    • Gutter
    Tai Bennett
    Tai Bennett
    • Kool
    Kevon J. Beverly
    • Dane
    Adrianna Bell
    • Linda Shepard
    • Director
      • Preston A. Whitmore II
    • Writer
      • Preston A. Whitmore II
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews25

    4.81.9K
    1
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    3
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    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    5bakidarakari

    Not good enough

    The story is straight simple.no mystery.but the way they begin the movie,you would expect something unexpected would be unravelled but to my disappointment it is not.could not know the who was playing the protagonist.i thought story would focus on one character but gradually shifted to another.not good enough.
    3ValleDk

    Below average

    This movie is not The worst, But nothing near good.

    In fact The acting and some of The scenes was just unnecessary or didnt have any impact on The movie. Nothing new to see here.
    6kosmasp

    Quite the good ones

    No pun intended of course. I was quite surprised ... I remembered the cover for this from back in the day when there were video stores (look it up) ... but what a cast this has. I reckon if you have to look up video store, you probably have no idea who I am talking about. Still if you see the actors in this, you may feel their screen presence.

    It's a shame then ... a shame because the story tries to be so many things. Tries to paint the people inside it as more than one shade of ... whatever color you want to see them in. It almost works too - because of the actors we have in this. But it really feels weird at best in its worst moments. Not sure if I would lay the blame entirely on the main actor - it seems the others do a better job than him ... whatever the case, quite the curiosity and quite the odd movie with cliches and things I did not think would happen ... quite the raw potential one can find here ...
    s_r_d

    It's a prison movie, with lot's of shower scenes

    If you like badly acted and badly edited low budget movies then this is your flick (Tarantino - take note). I'd recommend 'Baby Boy' with Snoop if you want a good 'from the hood' type movie. Personally speaking I don't think DHT was worth the discounted rate it took to make.

    It's a prison movie mostly, though there are a few 'outside' scenes. It is low budget. The story makes no sense - I couldn't get in to the main characters mindset at all. There are several scenes that dwell for an inappropriate amount of time on male rear ends in the prison showers and other prison places. I don't like looking at man butt, so that bothered me. The acting sucks too, not just a little bit - but a whole bunch. The editing tries to be artsy but just succeeds in being crappy and bad. The one exception is when the gay bookie character is dancing to an old song while mopping up after hours, that was a decent scene for about 15 seconds.

    Overall, not worth the time - pretty much garbage.
    BudoSenpai

    Not good!

    Good cast, but a bad movie! This is hard to get through, the script is terrible! And the editing could have been much better; why is it so grainy?! RIP Michael K. Williams....

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    Related interests

    Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
    Prison Drama
    Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
    Action
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Connections
      Referenced in The Holiday (2006)
    • Soundtracks
      You'll Never Be Alone
      Written by DeYon Dobson, Jeffrey Freeman, Tim Owens

      Performed by Tim Owens

      Courtesy of Yon Ti Entertainment

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 23, 2004 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Sony Pictures
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Báo Thù Trong Ngục
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Destination Films
      • Preston Picture Company
      • Hard Time Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $1,400,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 35m(95 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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