Fortress (1993)

Don't Believe the Hype

Best movie ever!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Stuart Gordon's Fortress is one of the more overlooked dystopian sci-fi thrillers of the 90's, and despite somewhat being a B-movie, it holds its own in pretty much every department. Quality story, terrific acting (even from the king of stilted delivery himself, Christopher Lambert) and a story with more depth than the poster or marketing might suggest. Lambert plays an unfortunate man on the run with his wife (Loryn Locklin) in an America of the future where having more than one child per mother is prohibited. They're both nabbed trying to make a break for Mexico, locked away in a horrific prison called Fortress, a place where science has run amok and all kinds of neurological and biological experiments are performed on the inmates under the steely direction of evil Director Poe (Kurtwood Smith). Fortress is an unorthodox nightmare where basic rights are replaced by those of cattle or worse, and no one is safe from micro implants, mind alteration and all sorts of fun stuff. Lambert plans an elaborate escape with the help of various inmates including Vernon Wells, the late Tom Towles, Jeffrey Combs and Clifton Collins Jr., all putting in excellent and varied performances. The scene stealer is Kurtwood Smith though, who is usually cheeky, psychotic or sarcastic in his work. Taking on the type of role that typically goes to a Malcolm McDowell type guy, he tackles a character that is the farthest thing from sympathetic you could find and sort of turns that on its head, making him seem very much human in one galvanizing piece of acting work. You can label this type of thing second tier or low budget, write it off or not take it seriously, but the fact remains that many of these efforts are works of art in their own right, beautifully crafted adventure stories set in universes more vibrant and imaginative than our own, stories just to the left left of normal and full of schlock, machines, creature effects and smoke machines. Gordon is a master in this arena (remind me to tell you about Space Truckers one day), a creative force to rival Roger Corman and the like. Fortress is my personal favourite in his stable, and one shouldn't underestimate its entertainment value and ability to hold up decades later. Oh and also, this suffers from an adorable condition I call Blade Runner Syndrome™, in which the far off year the film's timeline exists in has been caught up to by our own trajectory, making the films future look like our past. This film's specific year? 2017, as you'll see in the poster above. That means that right now, Lambert and Smith are duking it out in that clandestine compound somewhere out there. Cool thought.

There's something very comforting for me about watching Christopher Lambert in the nineties sci-fi/action movie 'Fortress.' It's like revisiting an old friend in a comfortable environment. Yes, it's fair to say that anyone who was basically in their early teenage years of watching films would find this film particularly deep and thought provoking (like I did at the time). Now, over twenty years (and several thousand) films later, my cynical and jaded eyes see it for what it is – a load of nonsense (but kind of good fun nonsense if you're in the mood).Sometime in the near future pregnancies are controlled and anyone having a child without government approval (or something) is imprisoned in the most hellish of judicial facilities imaginable. The opening scene shows us Christopher Lambert and his pregnant wife attempting to flee the country, but getting caught in the process. Guess where they end up? The titular 'Fortress' is a prison (tower) buried under the ground in the desert where escape is 'impossible' (yeah, in the same way that 'no one' had ever won 'The Running Man' until Arnie had a go).Once imprisoned, Lambert is subjected to all the usual prison movie tropes, including clichéd cellmates, aggressive bully-type alpha-male prisoners and – of course – the fascist warden in charge, this time played by Kurtwood Smith (or that-baddie-in-Robocop to most of us). Whereas most of the film is pretty run-of-the-mill, Kurtwood does his best to turn in a pretty sinister and menacing performance. Of course there are some pretty big stretches in the plot which are designed to further the story rather than be realistic. These are things like the warden just so happening to fall in love with Lambert's wife (like our hero needed any extra excuses for hating the man in charge of the barbaric facility).The sets are pretty bland. In fact, the sets are sets – pure and simple. Grey walls with people wandering around in orange jumpsuits. The special effects aren't that special and the dialogue is a bit corny here and there. All in all, it's probably not the greatest of films and it's no wonder that it's been pretty much forgotten compared to the classic action films of the decade. And yet, I stand by my original statement. Watching 'Fortress' takes me back to my childhood, so, yes, a lot of my appreciation of this film stems from my nostalgia of the era. It's a simple film from a simpler time.I doubt it would hold up today against the current crop of action movies. It wasn't much more than a 'straight-to-video' affair back in its day, but, like I say, if you're looking for a slightly dated, more simple action movie then this one is worth a watch if you feel like wasting an hour and a half. The deeper meaning I may have once seen has long since been painted over by clichés and cheesy nonsense, but I like that sort of thing.

Fortress - great movie about high-tech prison of future. I liked Christopher Lambert since Highlander and i like Fortress since childhood. It's cool movie with good action, plot and characters (though they are a cliché). But interesting to watch. Any time. Great movie which exist in my mind without sequel. Awesome actors like Kertwood Smith are on background make it only better. May not agree that it's version of Lock up with great Sly Stallone, it's just have similar plot. Little advice: never put your slogan as your password.Pros: +Young Lambert.+co-stars. +action. +goreCons: -sequel

When I first watched this film I found it to be average in the true sense of the word and having watched it again recently I find myself thinking the same.This is the worst thing about it in my opinion, at least a bad movie causes some kind of emotion (even if that is to walk out in disgust), this movie leaves you feeling jaded at the end and unsatisfied but not really angry about it. You don;t really like or really dislike any of the characters and this I don;t blame on the acting, but on the characterisation implicit in the plot In this I'm specifically not mentioning cast by name as I don;t feel the need to name and shame them, the mistakes weren't with the actors for the most part I'm a big fan of sci-fi movies, and don't usually buy into the idea that the old ones are better because in general they really aren't except for the nostalgia increment. However in this case, earlier movies certainly did do this prison story better.That said, its watchable if you have nothing better to do.The story itself centres on a couple who have been sent to prison for breaking population laws. Nothing new here really. As ever the perpetrators are fleeing across the border to Mexico and predictably because its the start of the movie, they don't make it.The lead character Brennan (I think he was called) tries to save the child and his lady by handing himself in and gets sent to the house of horrors, sorry futuristic privately owned prison, where torture is legal. Latter we learn that his lady hasn't got away at all and is instead serving time in the top levels of the prison.The rest of the film is a mishmash of plots seemingly confused as to what its supposed to be portraying. Plenty of gore and violence without any real reason or thought. For instance, there is no way that any prison would ever be allowed to punish someone for dreaming, except in some strange sadistic POW camp (beneath the public radar). The intestrinators equally serve no real purpose except to have the gore of them blowing up and the procedure for fitting them, and the subsequent removal. Thereare far more effective ways of achieving the same level of control if desired.Many potential plot lines are ignored. For instance the showdown between Brennan and Madox, could have been the culmination of decent dialogue and plot development. Instead it is rushed into 2 fight scenes, and the main purposes it seems is to a) Show the lady than Brennan is there b) to allow the sadistic jailer to blow out madox' stomach with a neutron cannon.There are numerous other bad plot lines in the film, or plot lines which simply aren't developed, instead simply paving the way for future plot lines which aren't well developed.That said if you ignore these problems and don't think, the film is indeed fun to watch. However there are better films to spend your time watching, a great many.The shame is that there was the gem of something better, if only Gordon had been able to shrug off the mantle of his previous films and see the gore etc as secondary to a good and well thought out plot line and logically rationalised scifi props.