Lockout

It's official: Lockout is a modern guilty pleasure of mine I genuinely enjoy watching over and over. I know it's cheesy, I know it's low budget, downright ridiculous and a poor man's Escape from New York, but unlike the dreadful Escape from L.A., Lockout has won me over with its charm.Guy Pearce plays the cliche wise cracking, too cool for school, Snow and absolutely nails the role. His performance is tongue in cheek, but he looks every bit the action hero in the scenes that calls for it and delivers his one liners with perfect comedic timing. I found the humor in this film to be genuinely funny where I laughed along with the writers and cast instead of laughing at them as I would with other campy flicks. It's a shame Pearce never had that breakout role to become a leading man because he certainly has both the acting ability and the charisma to carry a film. He's cool, he's tough, he's funny, yet he might not be as smooth with the ladies as we would think - Snow is just a great character. Not to get too political here, but I also think Snow as a character is a fierce individualist with a Libertarian streak who tries to live his life on his own terms without succumbing to statist or corporatist pressure. At one point he is criticized for being a "relic" because he chain smokes cigarettes in a time where "nobody smokes any more!" I just love this guy.The premise of Lockout is far fetched, but creative in my opinion. It's the future, Snow is some sort of secret agent framed for a murder, there is a high tech prison orbiting the Earth and in it are the President's daughter and an incarcerated friend of Snow's who can tell him the location of a mysterious brief case he needs. After the prison is taken over by rioting inmates, Snow agrees to infiltrate it to rescue the President's daughter and to find his friend to get the location of the brief case. Simple, stupid, but so much fun. It is not a badly written script, it works for the popcorn flick this is. Action, humor, and space in one movie? Count me in.Aside from Guy Pearce nailing the lead role, the supporting cast deserves credit as well and are a delight to watch on screen. There is a crazy Scotsman who has to be one of the better bad guys I've seen in a movie in a long time and a much larger, intimidating fellow who leads the prisoners while serving as a balance to the Scotsman. Lennie James, whom you may remember as Morgan Jones from the first season of The Walking Dead (a character we all would like to see return the series), plays Harry Shaw who is in regular communication with Snow throughout the film and the two have great chemistry with one another similar to McClane and Sgt. Al Powell in Die Hard (just nowhere near as deep of a connection). Maggie Grace is not as annoying as I feared and plays your standard hot damsel in distress which she admittedly does well in movies/shows like Taken and Lost.What are the downsides to this film? Well if you're a big John Carpenter fan then you might have heard that this was supposed to be a sequel of sorts to Carpenter's beloved classic Escape from New York starring Kurt Russel as the raspy voiced Snake Plissken. That cult classic is a much darker film with a subtle but serious underlying theme driving the narrative; it focuses on suspense and tension over one liners and charm, and it manages to suspend audience disbelief in its admittedly over the top premise of Manhattan becoming a prison colony. To many Carpenter faithful who wanted a true spiritual scuccessor, Lockout will not deliver what you're looking for. I myself am a huge Carpenter fan, but after the abortion that was Escape from L.A. I figured it's best to put that series to rest and start anew. Like it or not, for better or worse, Lockout does its own thing.Another downside to the film which actually prevented me from paying to see it in theaters is the PG-13 rating. I have just purchased the unrated DVD from Amazon, but from what I hear even the unrated cut doesn't go beyond PG-13 standards. Lockout does not need gratuitous sex or violence to be good, nor does it need a particularly dark tone and theme, but the movie would have benefited tremendously had there been at least a few kill shots to see. Instead we are stuck with typical PG-13 cut away shots which rob us from seeing some rather creative deaths courtesy of Snow's keen survival instincts. If a bad guy has a collar around his neck that is about to explode, then I want to see the head explode even if only for a second like in the movie Scanners; if an enemy activates a booby trap by hitting the trip wire and suddenly finds himself staring into a gun about to unload in his face, then I want so see it unload in his face as if this were a Paul Verhoeven film! The crazy Scotsman character couldn't be quite as menacing as he could of been thanks to the rating and how dangerous can a PG-13 prison really be? A lot of tension is instantly removed before even seeing the film because you know your eyes and ears are going to be protected by the rating. As charming and sarcastic as Snow is, I would have liked to have seen him in some real danger to see if it would have any effect on his nonchalant attitude. A little, just a little, Verhoeven style violence (Robocop, Total Recall) could have gone a long way in making this movie something truly special. Lockout feels like it was outright censored at times. EuropaCorp needs to make R cuts for their DVD releases, leave the PG-13 cuts for theater goers if you're worried about ticket sales.Well that's it, there is my review of Lockout. I really liked this movie, it won me over despite its rating and cheese ball nature. It's just a lot of fun for me to watch and definitely classifies as a guilty pleasure. It's one of those movies you recommend to your friends not because you think they will enjoy it, but because you sincerely hope they do enjoy it so you can find others to share the guilt and fun with.

Movie came in perfect condition, played just fine no issues. Movie is good, action packed, great premise. Coulda been a box office hit with a better director and actors, but still a great movie

If you like Escape from New York, this is kind of the same genre. It’s not Oscar worthy, but entertaining none the less.

Excellent

Fun movie

So, two of the other reviews struck me. One said closer to a 2 than a 4, and I have to agree - not ready to give it a 2 star "Didn't Like", but feel unsatisfied giving it a 3 star "OK". The acting was ok - actually liked Maggie Grace, a lot - a cut above your average damsel in distress. As far as Guy Pierce's Snow, another review said they were reminded of Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China, but whereas Kurt Russell was playing something of a blow hard in that film, Snow in this film is more like a Bruce Willis Character (I'm thinking more Joe Hallenbeck from the Last Boy Scout, than John McLane) ... although this felt a bit more of a caricature than a character. Or maybe Bruce Willis is better at acting hurt as he is cracking wise while having the crap beat out of him. Getting hit in the face like that messes you up, and to have an "Oh-Come-On" moment come so early in the film sets a bad tone.I am surprised no one saw the resemblance to another Kurt Russell movie - Escape from New York. Pretty sure the writers have seen that one. Now THAT movie is looking a little old these days, and could do with a re-boot, and when I saw this I was seriously expecting that.Now ... Spoilers ...... here is where I have a problem with the film. Snow is still working a case he was helping a friend with, even though it crashed and burned resulting the friend dying and Snow being charged with his murder. In fact there is something strange about his arrest in that it is pretty apparent that he is being framed, but by who? He agrees to rescue Emilie, the President's daughter, so that he can look for his partner who has been locked up on the space station for shooting a police officer after stashing some important evidence - but we don't know evidence of what. Emilie is looking into corporate corruption and experimentation on humans in the space prison, and during the romp through the bowls of the prison they find pretty firm proof that is exactly what is going on. They get off the station before it is blown up (did I mention that it was falling towards the eastern seaboard of the United States? So somehow the last 15 minutes of Star Wars is played out in the movie with fighters attacking the prison and being shot down by automated gun turrets as they try to land a time bomb at a critical location on its surface ... guided missiles and smart bombs are too old fashioned in the near future I guess), and upon landing Snow is cuffed and thrown into jail .... I am not sure why the President didn't pardon him for saving his daughter, but that isn't a major problem ... what bugs me is that Emilie finds the case that Snow was looking for, but its empty - and Snow tricks the traitor into revealing himself. "Did they pay you well?" he asks (WHO???? Who is they????) ..... and then some pointless dialog ... the girl catches up to him ... some more dialog and the credits. Oh, and he finds a chip in the dead friends lighter which could have all sorts of information on it ... or porn - we will never know, cause the writers couldn't be bothered with the simple task of tying up the loose ends.It was sloppy. They could have tied all the story lines together with 2 or three more lines of dialog and provided resolution to everything, say maybe chip turns out to hold information on the corrupt corporation that runs the prison - that's what Snows friend was working on and what the traitor was being paid to bury - then Emilie could finish what she was working for ... but no - they couldn't be bothered .... this slacking off on story while throwing in gratuitous special effects bugs the heck out of me.Pffft. Oh well, maybe someone will bring Snake Plisskin back.

Any film where Luc Besson is involved in any way is well worth a watch. This one is great if you like action, fun, sci-fil, guns and explosions, all with a good quality main cast of Lenny James, Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace and Peter Stormare. Great value also for a blu ray.

Das Ding habe ich irgendwann mal auf Sky gesehen, ohne es vorher gekannt zu haben! Ich war total begeistert und wurde super unterhalten! Hier geht's tatsächlich nur um Action, die Story ist abgefahren! Nicht JEDE(R) wird's mögen! Habe es dann noch ca. 6-7 Mal gesehen und der Eindruck blieb! Genau mein Ding! Und jetzt in meiner Sammlung!

An action/science fiction movie, set in the reasonably near future.A few decades from now, and life on Earth thus doesn't look much different. But orbital space planes are in existence. And there's a big space station orbiting the Earth. Which is being used to keep the worst kind of convicts. In suspended animation.At the same time, CIA operative Snow [Guy Pearce] a laconic and wise cracking individual, is in the middle of a mission that turns into a double cross. He has to fight and run to survive. But doesn't get too far. He faces years in suspended animation on the station as a result.But when Emilie [Maggie Grace] daughter of the US president, goes to the station on a mission to find how the prisoners are being treated, only to be caught up in a mass breakout, Snow has no choice but to agree to take on a solo mission to rescue her.On the station awaiting him are a scottish psychopath [Joseph Gilgun. Rudy in the tv show misfits] and a very cunning sociopath who is calling the shots. But Snow has another reason for being there as well. Can he survive and walk away? And will anyone else?This starts with earthbound sequences that show you what happens when Snow gets double crossed. These are good action set pieces, although the cgi in a motorbike sequence doesn't really convince. Guy Pearce's performance does command the attention from the off as he makes Snow quite a likeable and appealing hero, by delivering lots of good one liners with aplomb.Up on the station Maggie Grace does make Emilie a three dimensional character, neither too tough nor too weak. And Joseph Gilgun's performance -the strong accent he uses does take a slight moment to get used to - is also strong, making him a good villain. As is the sociopath calling the shots.Once Snow is on the mission the pace and the tension do escalate, and it all results in some very good and exciting moments. At the heart of it is the relationship between him and Emilie. The two leads do play this very well, meaning that you never find the man/woman who initially hate each other but get to know and like each other routine at all cliched.There is some clever plotting which holds back a few revelations right to the end.This is exactly what it sets out to be. A fun and exciting action movie. It's very good escapist entertainment and well worth a look if you're in the mood for that kind of thing.Languages and subtitles on the dvd are:Languages: English.Subtitles: English.Extras are:Interviews with cast and crew. These are short featurettes that can be watched individually or all in a row. The interviews are interspersed with shots of the film being made.They are as follows:Guy Pearce [8 Minutes]Maggie Grace [5 minutes]Joseph Gilgun part one [Three minutes]Joseph Gilgun part two [Four minutes]Stephen St. Ledger - one of the two directors [five minutes].Torsion fields sequence shows how one fight scene was flmed. This runs for five minutes. And is narrated in french. With english subtitles.MS one action: runs for four minutes and show how some of the action sequences were done.MS one constuction: runs for seven minutes and shows a lot of the production design.Unreleased scenes: runs for two minutes and has slightly extended versions of two key scenes. The first of these in particular is an esssential watch. You will see why.There are also three trailers in a preview section. For totally unrelated films. That can be watched individually or all in a row.

Ich finde den Film sehr gut und cool.

In the near future, convicts aren't given ASBOs or community service involving smoking a cigarette at the side of the road with a half-filled sack of rubbish in the other. Instead, they're not only frozen for their sentence, but they're also incarcerated in a prison-space-station orbiting the Earth (as suggested in The Daily Mail since the end of World War 2).But, just when the President's daughter takes a humanitarian trip to the prison, the convicts only break out and take over the installation (a surprisingly easy feat believe it or not, but I'll gloss over that).It seemed that Bruce Willis and Keanu Reeves were both busy saving other Presidents' daughters, so the only man capable of flying up there, killing everyone with tattoos (and Scottish accents - in the future, major crime is apparently only committed by Glaswegians) is wise-cracking tough guy and wrongly-convicted superspy Guy `Mike-from-Neighbours' Pearce.And that's about it. He goes up there, shoots a lot of people, bludgeons others and... well, you can watch the film to find out.I may have been slightly glib, but I actually enjoyed this. Yes, it's predicable and yes, you've probably seen it before (albeit not on a prison space station, right?), so there's nothing really new here. But it's fun, daft and kills a couple of hours (and about a hundred felons).The performances are nothing special, but the futuristic sets are nice and the action scenes are satisfying, so I think that's all most people will want from a film like this.Popcorn fodder. Sit back, set brain on `stand-by' and just go with it. Don't think about how easy it is for one escaped convict to take over an entire space station and release absolutely everybody at once. Just don't.