Lockout [2012]

August 8, 2012

Lockout is an action science fiction movie that looked promising and in the end, turned out to be a fun guilty pleasure. Also, I expected nothing less from Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taxi, Taken), who was the executive producer and writer of this movie. We will be following Snow, a badass hero currently serving his sentence of thirty years aboard the space prison MS One. Once again, the government will have to lean on him to get shit done. If you’re sensing that you’ve already heard this story somewhere, you’re right. Lockout is a movie that all but directly copied John Carpenter’s movies Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.

Actually, Carpenter sued Besson in court and won the case, as he should have because the similarities were obvious. Despite all of this, I can tell you that we got a new cool badass anti-hero in Snow. Guy Pierce, who mostly played different types of characters, proved that he’s an excellent actor working off a solid script full of catchy one-liners. So, we can say that Lockout is basically an homage to a cool action movie from the eighties and nineties but set in outer space. And you know me, I’m a sucker for anything taking place in outer space. Just let me see those stars and I’ll be alright.

Opposite of Pierce we have delightfully deranged Joseph Gilgun who gave a masterfully over-the-top performance as Hydell. It was also good to see a couple of veterans Peter Stormare and Lennie James doing what they do best. Too bad the script was focused only on the main characters so we didn’t get to know any of the others better. Still, stuff like this is pretty much expected if we’re talking about basically B science fiction action movies. The pacing is fast which means that the already short running time of ninety minutes will feel even shorter.

They killed his friend. They falsely accused him of that murder and imprisoned him. They want him dead or rotting in prison and the only piece of evidence that proves his innocence is safely locked up in the orbiting prison. She is a young, hot, and very fuckable girl currently inspecting rumors that the prison is experimenting on prisoners. Something goes wrong, terribly wrong. All of the worst inmates in an orbiting prison take it over, along with her, a president’s daughter. There is only one man who can save her. His name is Snow.

I have to admit that I much prefer the original title of this movie MS One: Maximum Security to the generic Lockout. However, I also have to add that it’s important to not take it too seriously. This will help you look past the sometimes glitchy CGI and awkward moments. Most of the time you will be having fun and enjoying a rather leisurely atmosphere aboard this huge prison. It is a great concept, an orbiting prison, you’ll have to admit. It sure does beat Alcatraz in terms of safety as you really have nowhere to go but space. And certain death.

Additionally, I like how they really leaned into this cool cigarette-smoking badass anti-hero persona combining the best of all those familiar action stars into one new one. Finally, if you’re looking for movies like Lockout, I suggest you check out Pandorum and Elysium, two modern space actioners. But you can also check out some of the nineties classics like Fortress, Demolition Man, and Alien 3.