Brokedown Palace

'Brokedown Palace', made almost ten years ago, stars Claire Danes and Kate Beckensale as teenagers who go on holiday to Thailand during their summer between high school and college. While in Thailand, they meet a mysterious stranger who invites them to Hong Kong for the weekend. En route to Hong Kong, the two girls get arrested by the local police and are found to be in possession of about four kilos of heroin. They are found guilty of drug smuggling and are both sentenced to 33 years in jail, in a place sarcastically referred to by its inmates as 'Brokedown Palace'.

They then employ the services of an ex-pat American lawyer known as 'Yankee Hank' (played by the ever under-appreciated Bill Pullman), who does his best to try to free them from prison.

With a storyline that sounds like it should be gripping and a very capable cast of actors, why is this film often found in the bargain bins at the local supermarket instead of gearing up for a special edition 10th anniversary release on DVD?

First off, the directing (provided by Jonathan Kaplan) is weak. There are moments where, under a more capable director, there could have been real suspense that would have engaged the audience. Secondly, the storyline is weak, which is saying something considering the plot. There's no real sense of purpose and it meanders without really going anywhere. Finally, the characters are unengaging, which again is incredible to believe given the cast. This actually is more a reflection of the screenplay and directing than it is on the actors. We all know that Claire Danes is a very capable actress and given more freedom, she could have made something of her role here. Unfortunately, her acting is stifled due to the many shortcomings of the director.

Brokedown Palace did have good cinematography and initially is very beautiful to look at. It shows so much promise at the beginning which is why it's all the more of a disappointment when it fails to live up to its potential. In short, we at FilmQuest can't really recommend watching this film and give it a meagre 3 out of 10 QuestMarks.