Plot: The year is 2079 and ex-CIA agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is arrested for allegedly killing an undercover agent. Although he insists that he was investigating a mole in the agency, Snow refuses to give up his inside source. Meanwhile, in orbit around the Earth Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace) the daughter of the President, arrives on MS1, an experimental maximum security prison that puts criminals in stasis for the length of their sentence. While investigating the affects of long term stasis on prisoners' minds, an unexpected security breach causes all the prisoners to be released from stasis. Facing 30 years in stasis, Snow is given a choice: save the President's daughter or be put to sleep until 2109. Snow accepts but has a hidden agenda of his own. His contact is on MS1 and only he knows the location of certain briefcase that will fully vindicate Snow and reveal the mole. Armed only with a few guns and sarcasm, Snow arrives on MS1 with a misson that may cost everyone's life on the prison including his own.
Review: Lockout was simply a blast to watch. While not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, it nevertheless entertains with constant action and a great performance by Guy Pearce. This is the definition of a "guy's film" and was a nice throwback to action movies of the 80s and early 90s. In fact calling Lockout "Die Hard in space" is a fairly accurate description in my mind.
Directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger know their audience well and rarely does the action let up. I was impressed by the tight pacing of the film which clocks in at just over 90 minutes and has the percussive beat of timed C4 charges. The two also co-wrote the film with Luc Besson. Besson is the master of action (The Professional) and sci-fi (The Fifth Element) and after the horrendous debacle that was Taken 2 I'm glad to see this movie played out well. While the tropes here are common (i.e. President's daughter taken, prisoners running the prison, a reluctant and sarcastic hero) the three writers nevertheless manage to add a new ingredient to an old formula.
As exciting as the action was, I have to admit too much of the movie used green screens and CGI and honestly it wasn't always well done. The motorcycle chase scene with Snow at the beginning of the film looked like a pure hack job that a ten year old with a laptop could have created. And a scene towards the end of the film where two characters re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, stretch the suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.
However, there are some solid acting performances that make up for some of the less than stellar special effects. Joseph Gilgun is excellent as the Scottish psychotic killer Hydell. While his character is somewhat one dimensional, Gilgun adds equal parts humor and sadism to make Hydell memorable if not always comprehensible. Peter Stormare is also perfect as the smarmy and annoying Scott Langral, Chief of the Secret Service. Stormare has made a living playing these characters and his performance leaves you constantly guessing on what side of the fence Langral lies.
Maggie Grace is solid as Emilie although at times her performance seems forced. Let's be real here though, Grace was obviously there as eye candy. I will admit the by-play between Emilie and Snow is pretty good even if the inevitable "romance" between the two characters is predictable.
Without question though Guy Pearce carries this movie. His Snow was just freaking awesome. Think Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken but with more sarcasm and wit. Pearce dishes out one liners and punches with equal aplomb. Snow is a man's man, the slick action hero every thirteen year old boy thinks is cool. Although Snow comes across as a smart ass (and he is) he's also very calculating. His efforts to track down the briefcase throughout Lockout is an intriguing sub-plot that never gets tiresome. Snow doesn't get a lot of character development but then again he's not meant to.
I sincerely hope audiences get more of Snow's character in the future but if Lockout ends up being the only incarnation of the ex-CIA operative, I'll feel privileged just to have the one ride.
My rating: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment