'Wasteman' Review
- Dempsey Pillot
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Release Date: 04/17/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Crime. Drama. Thriller.
MPAA: Not Rated.
Distributor: Vertigo Releasing.
The Verdict: A Mistake
Taylor just found out he's getting out of prison. After 13 years, he can finally put his manslaughter conviction behind him and attempt to build a relationship with his teenage son…unless his new troublesome roommate doesn’t get in the way. That’s the premise of Wasteman, the stylish directorial debut of Cal McMau.
The film stars David Jonsson as Taylor. Despite this only being his fifth major movie role, he carries himself like a veteran here. Where previous roles in Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk may have solidified his respective skill and range as an actor. Here, he continues to prove that he’s committed to perfecting his craft through more complex and mature roles. As a man who is clearly sorry for the life he lived before, as an addict who is struggling to kick his habit, and as a father who just wants to know his son, there isn’t a frame where you can’t feel his pain.
Despite stealing some hearts in People We Meet On Vacation earlier this year, Tom Blyth proves once again that he can play silent sadistic sociopaths quite well. He plays Taylor’s aforementioned Dee, a drug dealer who basically commands their prison from the inside. When you first meet him, you can tell how much power he has by the contraband he carries. With so many treats, fancy appliances and even a cell phone at his disposal, he appears untouchable.
With drugs being the only thing they have in common, you might never expect the him and Taylor to become friends. What starts off as transactional surprisingly transforms into a brotherhood. Given the confines of their relationship, it’s obvious what they have can only last so long. It’s only a matter of time before Taylor realizes he’s both another useless piece of contraband for Dee (hence the title) and a means to further his enterprise.
Blyth ups his game to be every bit as good as Jonsson here. The only con is that we’ve seen this kind of character before. That does not make the betrayal any less devastating.
Unlike prison films of the past, McMau finds a unique way to immerse the audience into the prison alongside the main characters. In addition to numerous claustrophobic close-ups, he sprinkles vertical video clips throughout the film. What begins as a means of showing what goes on when the guards aren’t around, becomes a metaphor for the average prisoner’s perspective. It’s almost too perfect that the shape of each shot mirrors the gap between bars of a prison cell.
Despite the impressive direction and the performances of its two leads, the film’s story does fall a bit flat. The film’s main conflict takes too long to unfold, and even it arrives you can’t help like a prisoner yourself, sitting and waiting to see what happens.
Wasteman doesn’t move the needle much for the prison film genre. It may not be as exhilarating as The Great Escape, as uplifting as The Shawshank Redemption or as soulful as Sing Sing, but it boasts so much promise behind its bars that makes it still worth the watch. Simply put, it’s not a waste, man.
