Xan Brooks 

King of Devil’s Island – review

Stellan Skarsgård is robust at the heart of an over-familiar Cuckoo's Nest-style drama, writes Xan Brooks
  
  

King of Devil's Island
God-fearing … King of Devil's Island. Photograph: PR

Stellan Skarsgård gives a wonderfully weighted and authoritative performance in this otherwise over-familiar Cuckoo's Nest-style drama, pungently played out at a youth prison off the Norwegian coast. He plays Hakon, the foursquare, God-fearing warden, struggling to subdue the antics of a fiery new arrival (Benjamin Helstad) who becomes the poster boy for the cowed other inmates. Robust acting and crisp direction eases the old-rope material through to the inevitable conflagration.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*