Brokedown Palace (1999): Dir: Jonathon Kaplan / Cast: Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman, Lou Diamond Phillips, Daniel Lapaine: Similar to Midnight Express and Return to Paradise only reduced tremendously due to its teenage delivery. Title refers to the destruction of fantasy to a dark reality. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale are vacationing when a stranger invites them to Hong Kong where they are arrested for possession of drugs. Both girls suffer horribly and make a failed escape attempt. Danes sent an audio recording to a lawyer with her story. Setup is familiar and the prison scenes are standard with a conclusion of self sacrifice. Director Jonathan Kaplan does his best but this is not done on the same level he used on The Accused. The big issue is its familiarity and structure. It plays like a feminine Midnight Express with prison scenes in full overload of clichés. Their vacation is familiar, their time in prison is everything we expect, then Danes gives a halfhearted revelation that plays like a crowd pleaser as oppose to conviction. Bill Pullman as the lawyer is the best performance as he attempts to help these girls. Lou Diamond Phillips appears in a flat role. Daniel Lapaine plays the loser whom the girls hook up with thus leading to the trouble they land in. Theme of sacrifice is sidelined by its lame teen appeal that works against it thus bringing the palace down. Score: 2 ½ / 10

Brokedown Palace is not the kind of movie I would ever like to see. I also did not like the movie when some Aussie man smuggled drugs in Thailand and accused Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale of drug smuggling. I would not go to that country no matter what after I saw this movie. In fact this movie stinks. I prefer to visit Germany to meet beautiful single women. Germany is the country I tolerate. I also would rather stick to the United States instead. After I saw some of the movie in the theatre including the false accusation of drug smuggling, I left the theatre and had my money refunded because I cannot tolerate this movie. If you are going to to Thailand to meet someone there who could be a drug smuggler, forget this!

In the film "Brokedown Palace," directed by Jonathan Kaplan, two best friends, Alice (Claire Danes) and Darlene (Kate Beckinsale) decide to celebrate high school graduation by taking a trip to Hawaii, but hear that Bangkok, Thailand, is much more fun. They switched plans and decided to go to Thailand without telling their parents the change of plans. While they were in Thailand, Alice and Darlene met a really handsome guy named Nick Parks (Daniel Lapaine). He tells them that he would trade in his first class ticket to Hong Kong for three economy tickets so that they could spend the weekend in Hong Kong. They accepted his offer and upon entering the airport the two were arrested for smuggling drugs. They were convicted and sentenced to thirty three years in prison. I think Kaplan was trying to show the audience that it is wise to make good decisions because in one instance one bad decision can change the direction of a life forever. Also, a friendly face may not be as friendly as we think once we find out the real intentions of that friendly face. Those girls made a decision not to tell their parents that they had switched their plans and it changed their lives forever. Things have a funny way of happening showing us what decision we have made verses the decision that we should have made. Sometimes life is not fair, that is why it is important to think long and hard about the choices that we make because we can never go back and change the choices that we have made.This movie has a great setting; it was filmed mostly in Bangkok Thailand. This film also has great music; a few of my favorite songs are 'Silence' by Delerium, 'Damaged' by Plumb, 'Deliver me' by Sarah Bightman and 'Party's just begun' by Nelly Furtado. I went out and bought the soundtrack after watching this film. These girls where young and naive and failed to think their plans out thoroughly, a mistake that anyone could make, therefore this film is good for any audience. It makes no difference young or old -- we all are human and subject to mistakes. Even though, I did not like the way this film ended leaving me in question of --who really smuggled the drugs? -- I would definitely give this film two thumbs up.

Where should I begin with how much I cherish and praise this absolute masterpiece? Let me start off with how I came upon it; I remember it perfectly. I was staying the night at my sister's house one night, and it was after she and my nephew had fallen asleep that I had watched a few films already and still really had nothing better to do, but was not going to sleep any time soon. I was sorting through her DVD collection, searching for films I had not seen before, and luckily enough stumbled onto this film. I had never heard of it, and though this might sound crazy, I felt drawn to the film. I mean, I really loved the cover, and I really love a lot of Asian themed films, and so I read the brief description on the back of the case and decided it sounded decent enough to pass the time. Since it had Claire Danes, who I love in every movie she has been in, except maybe Romeo + Juliet which I had not seen at the time, I decided it would be entertaining. Giving this movie a chance was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life, and I am not exaggerating. It is simply perfect, flawless, in my opinion, in every way possible and fully deserves any positive recognition it receives, plus all the other recognition it should have received and should be receiving now.First of all, it is executed so much better than any other film I have ever seen, and was so beautifully crafted and put together with perfect performances and poignancy that it makes my head spin. I was so entranced in the story and I am amazed at how perfect I believe this movie to be. It is sheer brilliance from beginning to end. It has the perfect atmosphere of intensity and brilliance that keeps me entranced in it from the get-go. The performances are perfect. Claire Danes does wonderfully as Alice, and her splendid portrayal was perfect with enough sincerity and an amazing climax scene that goes down as my favorite scene in cinema history. Kate Beckinsale is perfect, and her character, while annoying some reviewers, did not annoy me one bit. Bill Pullman is perfect, and I have never really cared for him at all. Jacqueline Kim is perfect. Lou Diamond Phillips is perfect. I could list the entire cast, but I am sure you get the point I am trying to prove by now.It has an excellent plot with authenticity and pain, rending the viewer helpless to submit to every kind of emotion they intend you to submit to. I love how it unfolds; them wanting to have a more memorable vacation by going somewhere exotic, meeting and becoming infatuated with Nick Parks or "Skip", and then how they are thrown in jail for heroin that neither of them claims to know how it got into their luggage, and their lives are slowly turned upside down on a vacation that was supposed to be their last great time together. It is so achingly beautiful. I love the whole backstory at the beginning, and it immediately clicks with me and I know these two girls' lives and traits, which is why I care for them so much throughout the entire remainder of the film. It inspires sympathy in the utmost manner for them. Nothing is superficial or played out about it, because the way it is told is like everything is fresh and new to our senses. It is grotesque without being violent, it is heartbreaking without being depressing, and all the material you think is irrelevant is revealed as being important pieces of the puzzle little by little.All the troubles and faults that go on in the prison make me pull my hair out and grit my teeth. The cruel inmate that causes Alice to be punished, the failed escape, the cockroach in Darlene's ear. Those poor girls; I wish I could help them. It is not as violent as it could be, but it did not need to be to berelevant. I know this is sometimes compared to A Midnight Express and Return to Paradise, and a few other drug-smuggling in foreign regions films, but I can assure you, in my honest opinion, none compare to the brilliant execution and poignancy of this magnificent work of art. The soundtrack is even perfect as well. I love "Rock the Casbah", "Silence", "Damaged", "Party" and then "Deliver Me" is positively beautiful, and a perfect song choice to an absolutely wonderful ending, which brings me to my next appraise. I am baffled by the movies last minutes. The best climax/ending in cinematic history, and the most effective, in my honest opinion. The movie's ending made me cry my eyes out, but the song just added on to the tears. There is the cliffhanger that just makes this movie even more amazing. You never know if Alice did it or if she didn't, you just know she did what she had to do set her friend free in the end, and after all, that's all the matters, is it not? All of this does not even begin to explain how perfect I think it is. It is extremely underrated, not winning one award and is hardly conversed about in today's film society, and a hidden gem for anyone who has seen it and loved it. It is a beautiful, perfect movie with a powerful message and incredible entertainment value. It has been my favorite movie for awhile now, and I believe that I might not find another movie that I love as much as it anytime soon.I know my comment may be a little cheesy, but I mean every word... Two thumbs way up!