Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Escape from Pretoria Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 20, 2023

Daniel Radcliffe will always be known for playing Harry Potter, but in Escape from Pretoria he also works some magic in Houdini style, planning a daring and impossible escape from prison by painstakingly crafting wooden keys over the months and years of his twelve-year sentence in 1970s Apartheid South Africa. Escape is his plan, and meticulous attention to detail, human cunning and ingenuity, and extreme patience (not to mention a few strokes of good luck) aid in his evolving plan and steadfast determination to escape a harsh and inescapable prison. The film necessarily shares in common many of the core qualities from the general "prison escape" film landscape, which is one of the richer in cinema history. While Escape from Pretoria adds nothing absolutely new to the genre, it does make for a very good entry, defined by a somewhat novel approach to the escape and an excellent lead performance from Radcliffe. Based on a true story.

'Escape From Pretoria' is the true story of Tim Jenkin (Daniel Radcliffe) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber), young, white South Africans branded 'terrorists,' and imprisoned in 1978 for working covert operations for Nelson Mandela's banned ANC. Incarcerated in Pretoria Maximum Security Prison, they decide to send the apartheid regime a clear message and escape! With breath-taking ingenuity, meticulous surveillance, and wooden keys crafted for 10 steel doors, they make a bid for freedom...Beyond a thrilling will-they-won't-they-escape, this is the story of an oppressed majority's struggle, and two ordinary men who stood-up to be counted in the pursuit of equality for all.

Keys are the key to this film. The film essentially follows Radcliffe's Tim Jenkin and his meticulous work to craft keys of wood to open large metal doors and locks. As he frantically and furiously, and usually fruitfully, works behind the scenes to get the key just right, he also faces the overwatch of the prison guards, including the stern Mongo (Nathan Page in a very by-the-book, yet effective, portrayal of the typically hard-edged prison guard). The film certainly goes through the motions and checks all the boxes, but even considering the general lack of different direction, the film's unique spin on the details certainly help to alleviate some of the feeling of genre repetitiveness. To the film's credit, this is a genre with limited opportunity to do other than what this film does, and even through the predictable ebb and flow the novelty of key making gives it just enough of a unique personality to hold the audience's attention and even captivate for its good pace and compelling characters.

Radcliffe is excellent in the lead role, demonstrating a fullness and firmness of character the reveals him to be much more than a one-hit (though multi film franchise) wonder. His work is excellent in the emotional and physical spectrums as he fervently works to make the keys work, plans the escape, and quickly works to cover his tracks when things go wrong. He also brings enough emotional grounding to propel the film forward as he works not just towards freedom, but further for the anti-apartheid cause for which he was originally arrested and his desire to return to the woman he loves. Like the rest of the structural elements, Radcliffe's character is fairly baseline for the genre, but he plays it well and overcomes any trope through sheer excellence of character inhabitation and likability.

Escape from Pretoria Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 1080p Blu-ray presentation for Escape from Pretoria delivers an excellent watch. The film was shot digitally but it never looks too terribly smooth. While grain and film stock might have given the film more of a period-authentic character, there's no denying that the image looks good as it is, offering good, stable, and nicely defined base details on faces, hair, clothes (both the lesser prison garb and the crisper guard uniforms), and of course the various worn and dingy prison surfaces, both inside and out. Inside, much of the action is gray and devoid of much light to really soak in the details, but shots taking place out in the yard under bright, sunny conditions offer more opportunity for soaking in the full clarity that the image has to offer. Colors are likewise spread between the gray and blue prison interiors where only splashes of color break up the monotony, and the exterior where colored brick, natural greens, and other tones spring to life with a contrasting robustness and vividness that is necessarily absent inside. Black level depth is terrific, especially at night and in shadows during the scenes where the men sneak through the prison to try out and hone the shape of keys. Whites are crisp and pleasing, notably on prison guard shirts. Flesh tones look good. There is a hint of noise and banding throughout, the former never really cause for concern and the latter only looking drastic in a couple of spots, notably during the scene when Tim is read his prison sentence around the eight minute mark.

Escape from Pretoria Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal brings Escape from Pretoria to Blu-ray with an excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is robustly defined throughout, offering wonderful depth and detail, especially as sounds reverberate around the dank, enclosed prison spaces. There's a very tangible sense of place, space, and close confines at play as footfalls, slamming prison doors, and other elements reverberate throughout the soundstage with both surround and subwoofer usage to truly draw the listener into the location. The track also offers excellently defined music which is likewise perfectly spaced and well supported by the LFE channel. Dialogue is centered, clear, and well prioritized for the duration.

Escape from Pretoria Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Escape from Pretoria contains a few supplements. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Interviews with the Cast and Crew (1080p, 34:47 total runtime): Cast and crew respond to a series of questions are appear in written form on the screen prior to the video response. They generally revolve around the film: plot, performances, the real stories behind the film, and more. Included are Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Francis Annan, Scott Bird, and Tim Jenkin.
• Deleted Scene (1080p, 0:41): A single scene, unidentified by title or other marker, that features a "what if" scenario concerning a possibility for the escape that the prisoners are planning.
• Behind the Scenes (1080p, 3:54): A very brief piece that offers audiences a candid on-set look into the making of several scenes.

Escape from Pretoria Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the pleasures of watching Escape from Pretoria is reveling in the human ingenuity at work. Set in a world where lock-and-key was still the only thing keeping prisoners in and out, there is ample opportunity for creativity and high tension in the escape. Today, of course, the story would not work because of the computerized nature of things, but here the world of mind- and wood-conquer-steel makes for a compelling and robust story that is well worth a watch. Universal's Blu-ray delivers solid all-around video and audio presentations in addition to a few worthwhile extras. Highly recommended.