Inside - Sadly, one good performance doesn't make a movie

I'm hardly a fan of Luke Goss. I remember him from his Bros days and always found it hard to take him seriously as an actor. `Inside' is a film which is basically set inside two dark prison cells for almost the whole movie. Therefore, the `cast' is effectively Luke Goss and the cellmate next door.

For a movie to work like that, you need to have a pretty strong lead. Amazingly, Luke Goss pulled it off. He's obviously come a long way in terms of his acting ability and I really wanted to like the film as much as I admired his performance.

Sadly, the rest of the film just isn't fast-paced enough to ride the ninety minutes out. It is cheap. Sometimes a lack of budget forces the film-makers to come up with imaginative ways of creating tension and using special effects. Here, it shows. With just the one primary location, shot in near-darkness and whatever `threat' which stalks the prison never really seen, you can easily get bored. Perhaps setting it in a LOCKED prison cell didn't help matters. Seeing as prison cells are designed to be basically inescapable, you can't simply have the protagonist walk out and explore wide and varied locations.

Yes, it creates a claustrophobic atmosphere and there are the odd bits that might make you jump, but, ultimately, this film is never going to appeal to the masses. If you were a die-hard fan of `single-location' films like `Buried' you might be able to sit through this, otherwise steer clear.

Full marks to Luke Goss for a great performance, now he just needs an equally decent vehicle to match his ability.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)