Movie Title: Lockout
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Director: James Mather and Steve Saint Leger
Writer: James Mathe, Steve Saint Leger, and Luc Besson
Starring: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, Peter Stormare, Jacky Ido, Tim Plester, Mark Tankersley, Anne-Solenne Hatte, Peter Hudson, Nick Hardin
Review: When a humanitarian mission at a maximum security outer space prison turns into a hostage situation involving the president's daughter there is only one man that can save the day...NO, not Snake Plissken. It's Snow! No, not Jon Snow. Snow, an ex-CIA Operative that's looking at a long stretch in the space slammer if he doesn't come to the rescue. Get ready for sci-fi action in lockup - it's Lockout!
This is most certainly a guilty pleasure for me. Yes, it's not original. Yes, it's very silly. Yes, it's ridiculous on every level. But that's why I love it!
Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taken, Colombiana) claims that Lockout was based on his original idea, but a French court believed it to be legally John Carpenter and Nick Castle's original idea. The premise of this sci-fi actioner is basically Escape from New York/Escape From LA in space. And it is, but the smoldering charisma of star Guy Pierce is what makes Lockout fun to watch. His sarcastic anti-hero Snow is tough, cool, and funny - the perfect archetype for battling crazed escaped prisoners in a space-station jail.
I also enjoyed Maggie Grace as the president's daughter that needs rescuing. She starts off as your typically damsel in distress, but she's tougher and smarter and is great opposite Pierce. Lennie James is always dependable as the guy in Snow's ear helping him try and survive this crisis. And Peter Stormare is classic as the chief of the secret service that has it in for Snow. The whole cast seems to be enjoying themselves which makes it that much more enjoyable.
Lockout is very much a "been there, done that" movie, but plenty of fun and thrills to keep most audiences members happy. The biggest determent to this movie, besides lack of an original story, is a majority of the CGI effects and special effects are look a bit on the cheap side; in some cases they look as if they weren't entirely finished. Not sure what the story is there, but it kind of reminds me of a classic Roger Corman movie during the '80s. How can you not enjoy that?!
So get ready for 90 minutes of over-the-top, B-movie action. Trust me, it's more fun than actual prison, it's Lockout.
Fun Fact: In October 2015, John Carpenter won a plagiarism case against Luc Besson over Lockout proving clear similarities to Escape from New York (1981) and Escape from L.A. (1996). A French court ruled that enough similar distinctive elements from both Carpenter's films were borrowed to merit a sanction.