Monday 23 April 2012

Film: Lockout


A convicted special agent gets the chance to earn his freedom in this futuristic action adventure from producer Luc Besson.

Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential) is Snow and his mission is to rescue the president’s daughter from an orbiting maximum security prison where the inmates have just woken from a drug induced state of limbo.

This is Escape From New York in space but where Kurt Russell excelled as anti-hero Snake Plissken, Pearce’s constant wise cracks and uncooperative manner quickly irritate making for a character that’s hard to root for.

Also irritating are the main villains, two brothers convicted for various reasons who speak in a weird Scottish / Irish accent. Whatever it’s meant to be it doesn’t work, they just sound silly, not scary.

Lockout lacks the tension expected from a prison action film and suffers from the obvious comparison to Escape From New York but it’s easy viewing and will appeal to anyone not familiar with the John Carpenter classic.

For a recent prison thriller check out the brilliant Cell 211 which is reviewed elsewhere here.

Lockout is in UK cinemas now.

Ric’s Rating: Dodgy  

7 comments:

  1. That's why I skipped this one in favor of The Cabin in the Woods.

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  2. This is a movie that promises a certain modest level of dumb spectacle and serves it up. It’s mostly flavorless and sometimes confusing, but served up nonetheless. Fun but nothing special. Good review Ric.

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  3. The right choice Alex if only just.

    Yeah fun but not special sums it up, Cheers Dan.

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  4. Another case of the trailer being better than the movie by the sounds of it

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  5. Yes it looked fantastic Tom but just didn't quite live up to it.

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  6. I'm going to see this one for sure. I don't even care if it's an Oscar winner or not. Sometimes just being entertained for a while is the goal. Right?

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