Conviction

Although both Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell have turned in noteworthy performances before, Rockwell tried too hard with Conviction; perhaps he took the title as an instruction. The family/prison drama might be based on a true story, but it winds up so similar to other stories of last-minute redemption that, even if it were sustainable in other ways, the film could, at best, only be considered above-average. Swank suits the reheated material much better than Rockwell, whose intensity is the wrong flavor for the movie—or maybe it’s the other way around. Conviction is a basic-cable movie in more-expensive packaging.