Film

Bedlam

Name: Bedlam
Genre: Action, Thriller
Cast: Scott Adkins, Howard Charles, Sienna Guillory, Peter Serafinowicz, Cornell John

Action
Vigilante
Very dark
Relentless

A street boxer fights his way into London's Bedlam asylum to save his sister, navigating institutional brutality, underground cage fighting, and systemic corruption. Scott Adkins delivers the kind of kinetic physicality this material demands. It's a revenge thriller built on action sequences rather than plot surprises—pure, propulsive energy with a grimy British setting that feels lived-in and cruel.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a lean, muscular action thriller where the fights are the storytelling and the set pieces hit hard, with a grimy Georgian London backdrop doing plenty of the work.

Skip it if you need intricate plotting or deep character study, since the film runs on physical momentum and its people stay sketched rather than fully explored.

What it asks of you: It asks you to settle in for a short, direct ride, with little patience for exposition and a willingness to let violence carry the emotional beats.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Warrior2011

Two brothers, one boxing ring, and a score to settle. Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton deliver raw, believable performances in a sports thriller that earns every emotional beat through genuine craft and commitment.

But The plot follows a familiar underdog trajectory, and if you're not invested in the brothers' relationship, the fighting alone won't sustain you for two hours.

Undisputed2002

Scott Adkins stars in this prison boxing film, combining brutal fight choreography with institutional corruption. It has the same lean, efficient storytelling and commitment to physical action.

But The production values are lower than modern action films, and the drama can feel secondary to the fight scenes.

Starred Up2014

A young man enters prison and collides with his estranged father. It's a claustrophobic, violent character study with genuine menace and a brilliant use of confined spaces to build tension.

But This is a serious film about masculinity and damage, not an action vehicle. Long stretches have no fighting at all.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bedlam

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover1989

Both examine how institutions brutalise the powerless and how beauty becomes a weapon against corruption. Both are fascinated by bodies as the ultimate contested terrain.

Peter Greenaway's baroque nightmare of power, corruption, and bodies trapped in institutional brutality. It's visually overwhelming, aggressively artistic, and absolutely uncompromising. Sienna Guillory, who's in Bedlam, gives a performance that suggests she's drawn to cinema that refuses to make things easy.

But This is deliberately provocative art cinema, not entertainment. It's extremely graphic, deliberately repellent in places, and requires active engagement rather than passive consumption.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover poster

Lawless2012

Tom Hardy anchors this Prohibition-era revenge thriller with a brutal performance. It has Bedlam's blend of corruption, violence, and a protagonist willing to burn everything down.

But It's slower-paced than a typical action film, and the narrative meanders at times without justifying the detours.

Summer with the gentleman2019

A crime thriller set in London's underworld, focused on systemic corruption and men playing for keeps. Darkly funny, visually assured, and packed with character performers who make every scene crackle.

But It's a plot-heavy ensemble piece where the story matters as much as the action, and the tone can feel self-aware in ways some viewers find precious.

In Hell2003

Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a man imprisoned for murder who must fight his way to freedom. It's a straightforward revenge-through-combat film with real stakes and committed physicality.

But It's a low-budget action film that prioritizes fights over logic. The plot is threadbare, and it looks its age.

Knife+Heart2018

A French thriller set in 1979 Paris's gay underground, where a filmmaker hunts the killer targeting his lovers. It's stylish, violent, and genuinely unsettling beneath its neon surface.

But It's deliberately artificial in its aesthetic, which some find alluring and others find distancing. The violence is graphic and not played for catharsis.

Skin Trade2014

Scott Adkins leads this human trafficking thriller set in Bangkok's criminal networks. It's the same actor in a similar role—lean action, institutional evil, and a man willing to become brutal to do what's right.

But The film uses real human trafficking as backdrop for action heroics, which can feel ethically queasy. The execution is competent but familiar.

Gangs of New York2002

A sprawling historical epic about gang violence, corruption, and revenge in 19th-century Manhattan. It has institutional brutality and a protagonist shaped by systemic cruelty, with Daniel Day-Lewis delivering one of cinema's great villain performances.

But It's three and a half hours, and the pacing is deliberate and novelistic. The action is limited; it's a drama about violence rather than an action film.

The Accident2019

Both use a confined institution as a pressure cooker where power and survival are rewritten. Both ask what happens when the system cracks and nobody's in control anymore.

A British miniseries about a prison rebellion that spirals into chaos and systemic failure. It's claustrophobic, intelligent, and genuinely tense—more interested in the machinery of institutional collapse than in hero narratives.

But It's a dense, dialogue-heavy political thriller that builds tension through writing rather than action. If you need fights every five minutes, this will frustrate you.

A Prophet2009

Both watch a man adapt to and exploit a brutal enclosed system. Both are fascinated by how institutions corrupt survival instinct into something monstrous.

A French-language prison drama about a young man who learns to survive and then dominate institutional hierarchy. It's methodical, morally complex, and devastating. The protagonist becomes powerful, but the film never lets you forget the cost—to him and everyone around him.

But It's a slow-burn character study in French with subtitles. There's minimal action and maximum moral ambiguity. If you want to feel good about the protagonist, this isn't it.