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After all the negative reviews, I almost avoided this little gem altogether. I rented it, watched it, and enjoyed it so much I purchased it on blu ray and watched it again. For those looking for a light-hearted action flick that pays homage to classic 80's action films like "Escape From New York" and "Die Hard" while never taking itself too seriously"Lockout" is incredibly entertaining.
Plot in a nutshell: covert government agent Snow is falsely accused of murder and sentenced to 30 years in a maximum security prison set in outer space where the prisoners spend their time in a cryogenically frozen sleep. Just before being shipped off to serve his time, the President of the United State's daughter (who conveniently happens to be doing humanitarian work at that same prison) is taken hostage by the inmates. Snow must go in and rescue the President's daughter before time runs out...
While there's little to nothing original about "Lockout," it is a very enjoyable movie with a terrific comic book atmosphere and tone. Our anti-hero is "Snow", wonderfully played by Guy Pearce. Snow is a wise-cracking smartass whose one-liners are biting and humorous. When he's not kicking someone's ass, someone is probably kicking his. He always gets into situations that are over his head and he never walks away unscathed. Fight scenes always go back and forthhe dishes it out and he takes it in returnand it's fun watching to see how he manages to get himself out of these bad situations.
Obviously, the movie missed its mark with a lot of people and critics in general. If you are looking for a serious, high-brow sci-fi thriller, then I advise staying far away from this movie! If you enjoy brainless action flicks that go great with pizza and a 12-pack (like "Blade", "Death Race" and "Doomsday") then I highly recommend "Lockout." If you prefer your action a bit more serious-minded like "Taken" probably not so much.
Pros:
The movie is deeply drenched in a comic book atmosphere and tone that keeps it light and energetic.
Guy Pearce's snarky performace as Snow is funny, obnoxious and very entertaining.
The action sequences (particularly shoot outs and fist fights) are well done and bloodier than the
PG-13 theatrical versionalthough the running time for both un-rated and theatrical are the same (95
minutes) the action is jacked up a notch or two compared to the PG-13 counterpart.
Some of the CGI for the prision and space ships are nicely done.
Wonderfully pacednever a slow moment in the movie, highly entertaining from start to finish.
Cons:
The CGI used in the motorcycle chase scene at the beginning of the film are rather horrific. However, I
also feel that it adds to the movie's overall cheesy charm.
A few acting scenes by minor characters are pretty bad: particularly the scene when the president is told
that his daughter is taken hostage by the most ruthless criminals alivehe may as well have been told
that his ham sandwich had mustard on it instead of mayonaisse.
Again, If you are looking for a serious, high-brow sci-fi thriller ala "Minority Report" or "Blade Runner", then I advise staying far away from this movie! If you're looking for a brainless but entertaining action flick to wash away a hard day with a 12-pack of your favorite beerthen I highly recommend "Lockout."
Overall, "Lockout" is a very entertaining film that will find its place in "cult classic" paradise.
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Lockout is the type of movie that you need to go into expecting nothing from, because the unexpected humor, zippy dialogue, rapid-fire action scenes, and cast of quirky characters is about as entertaining as it gets. Even my stodgy spouse enjoyed this movie and laughed aloud at times. There are some plot holes and a few maguffins that will leave you scratching your head and wondering why events happened and why characters acted the way they did, but who cares? Have some fun with this romp and let your hair down. It's an entertaining 1:50 of movie mayhem and fun.This movie is part Escape From New York, part Die Hard, part Star Wars, and part Mad Max. It's a blast!
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Luc Besson has been behind some of the best action and sci-fi films of the past eighteen years; directing films such as Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element and contributing to the writing process for films such as Kiss of the Dragon, The Transporter, Revolver, and From Paris With Love. Besson's films aren't always the smartest or the best written, but they don't have to be when they're usually so damn entertaining. On top of that, I'm a fairly huge Guy Pearce fan other than last month's Seeking Justice, which we'll just pretend doesn't exist for the sake of argument. So Lockout looked like it could be a hell of a lot of fun, but there was something I couldn't quite put my finger on that didn't seem quite right in the trailers and TV spots.Accused of a crime he didn't commit, Snow (Guy Pearce) is about to be locked away for thirty years. The president's daughter Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace) is sent to a prison in outer space to help psychologically diagnose the prisoners when an interrogation goes wrong and prisoner Hydell (Joseph Gilgun) escapes and sets all 400+ prisoners on the space station free. Snow is offered his freedom if he can break into the prison and rescue Emilie.
Lockout has this superb beginning. The interrogation sequence with Snow and Langral (Peter Stormare) and the fight sequence immediately afterwards are both extremely entertaining and fast paced. The closing part of it with the gun is something taken right out of a Jackie Chan flick, which should be taken as the highest compliment. The entire movie has incredible momentum anyway as the slower moments are tense and everything else is just go-go-go the whole time. Snow is a great character, as well. While he's basically John McClane from the Die Hard films, he's the most entertaining character Pearce has ever played. Cynical, sarcastic, and a complete smart aleck, Snow reminds me of me to the most exaggerated extent.
Things begin to go downhill fast during the freeway chase. The special effects are very unusual. Everything is so blurry and whizzes by you so fast that you can't really process what's going on. It's like it almost feels like it's low budget or something, but it's not quite that bad. The outer space battles are along the same lines. The Snow character never gets old though as he's downright hilarious throughout the entire movie. His interactions with Emilie are just as good if not slightly better as both Pearce and Grace have fairly decent chemistry together on-screen.
The sci-fi action film has this Paul W.S. Anderson and Michael Bay quality to it that keeps you from fully enjoying it. The TV spots are comparing Lockout to Die Hard and Blade Runner. While there is a small Blade Runner vibe early on before Snow is shipped off into space, it disappears quickly. Lockout is more like a combination of Die Hard, The One, Event Horizon (without all of the implications of hell), and Armageddon. It's like there's something good in there, but it has to compete for your attention with its weird special effects and storyline that doesn't exactly put you off entirely but feels hackneyed to a certain degree.
If it wasn't for the thoroughly amusing and brilliantly written character of Snow, Lockout probably wouldn't be worth seeing at all. Since he is though, Luc Besson has helped create another fairly satisfying sci-fi action adventure. It's just a shame that its entertainment value fluctuates so often throughout its duration.
Honest reviews on Lockout (Unrated Edition) (2012)
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.
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First off, Lockout is not meant to be taken seriously. It is a fun action sci-fi movie that breaks the boundaries of what it physically possible. Remember when you were a kid playing with your little action figures in the sandbox, well that is how they designed Lockout. They forgot about what is real and what can actually be done and simply had fun.Guy Pearce is hilarious and teamed up with Maggie Grace the laughs just keep rolling. It is an action, sci-fi, comedy that is amazingly well crafted if you can take your thinking cap off and just have fun. There are a few plot twists, but nothing you didn't see coming. While Lockout doesn't really bring anything completely new to the table, it is very entertaining and well worth multiple viewings.
Due to mixed reviews I did not expect much, but Lockout really impressed me with its style and fast paced action. Other reviews has said that the special effects looked terrible, that is simply because of the style. One thing Lockout has is style and solid direction and cinematography. They knew what they were doing with this movie and they pulled it off perfectly.
Recommended!
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