Lockout (2012)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The movie follows a plot similar to "Escape from New York City," but other than Guy Pearce as Snow, it lacks memorable characters. In 2079, Guy is convicted of murder and espionage. In order to beat the rap he must rescue the President's daughter from an orbiting space prison...apparently built after a crazy ideas man gets elected president. I started making a list of the science flaws and quit after half a page. My other column for absurdities was equally as long. Clearly this is a "leave your brain at the door" movie.Guy is a wise cracking individual. His humor is enjoyable, even if corny at times. Of course the President's daughter (Maggie Grace) objects to being the only hostage being rescued. Good comedy-action sci-fi story.F-bomb, no sex, no nudity.

Movie Review: "Lockout" (2011)A near-future science-fiction movie running a fast-paced 85-Minute-editorial coming from executive producer Luc Besson's Eurocorp. production / distribution company for short-lived fairly enjoyable action treats, which just misses a R-rated red bloods-spreading make-over, when young writer and directors gets a shot at Eurocorp. to thread together an original story of rescuing the president's daughter from a convict space station going havoc, but then again not havoc enough, with face-keeping actor Guy Pearce letting completely loose in the leading role as mercenary-like conspired convict Snow, who makes surprisingly entertaining matches with constant-gear-shifting actress Maggie Grace as Emilie, known as abducted daughter from Liam Neeson owned also recommendable "96 Hours" (2008), here for another quick pumping mood visuals in favors in media out-looking action audiences.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

I remember seeing the trailer for this film a couple of times, I thought it looked like a good idea and concept, and the cast certainly drew me to a bit more as well, so I watched and hoped for something good. Basically in the year 2079, ex-CIA agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is arrested, falsely accused of treason against the United States and the murder of undercover agent Frank Armstrong (Miodrag Stevanovic), by chief of the secret service Scott Langral (Peter Stormare). Meanwhile Emilie Warnock (Taken's Maggie Grace), the daughter of the President of the United States, Jeff Warnock (Peter Hudson), is visiting MS One, a maximum security prison in outer space, to investigate claims of a huge corruption, that the prisoners, in stasis, could develop mental instability. Prison warden Barnes (Mark Tankersley) allows Warnock to interview deranged prisoner Hydell (Joseph Gilgun), but he manages to escape, subduing the staff in the central room and releasing all prisoners, including his brother Alex (This Is England's Vincent Regan) who becomes the riot leader. Veteran agent Harry Shaw (The Walking Dead's Lennie James) offers Snow his freedom if he agrees to go on a mission, to infiltrate MS One and rescue the president's daughter, once he gets there and he does find her, Emilie being idealistic refuses to leave without taking other hostages as well. Also starring Tim Plester as John James Mace and Jacky Ido as Hock. Pearce is alright as the brash and wisecracking maverick government operative, Grace does okay as the pretty humanitarian and daughter of the U.S. president, and Gilgun and Regan are chilling as the insane adversaries, this is a near predictable jail breakout story where criminals take over and cause havoc, but the prison being in outer space gives it a bit more of a claustrophobic element, and there are enough violence and gun shooting sequences to keep you engaged, a relatively fast-paced science- fiction action thriller. Worth watching!

**** Warning. This contains a lot of spoilers ****Let's start with what I liked about this film: 1) The production design (the station looks great). 2) The actors. The issue I had with this movie was not a lack of originality (I didn't really care whether or not it was original. I was more concerned about execution).First of all, Guy Pearce is one of my favorite actors. However, he just doesn't suit the wise-cracking anti-hero type of character. Actually, I think it might have worked, had his lines been adjusted a bit. A few of the lines that were supposed to be funny just didn't come off that way.Now for the REAL killer...Pacing. I'm not talking about action pacing (that was fine). I'm talking about dramatic pacing or pacing for added impact. For example, when they jump out of the station to make planet fall -- it's really rushed. Now compare that to what would happen if this was a James Bond movie. Instead you'd have them start the jump, then it would switch to a very long shot and everything would slow down. Along with that, the musical score would change to something slower and more majestic -- giving you time to absorb the action as well as what the characters are experiencing. As part of this process, the next shot would be a close-up of the two of them and the brutal buffeting they'd get from atmospheric re-entry as well as how they're literally and figuratively bonding.As others have mentioned, this film has a similar plot to Escape From New York. Note that in Escape, when Snake and Hauk are sitting across the table from each other, they establish that the two characters are decorated soldiers and that they're both total badasses. You know who you're dealing with right from the start and you get a sense of what Snake is all about. Contrast that with Lockout. There's a similar meeting, but the audience is left clueless as to who exactly Snow is. It would help to explain that he's a secret service agent at the start and really show how he's been wrongly accused. The audience needs to know something about him and be able to sympathize with him. Watching this movie, even the fact that it was Guy Pearce, it still wasn't enough for me to feel sorry for the character. I just kept asking myself, "Who the hell is this character and why should I care?"There are a few other spots in this film in which a little more meaningful character interplay would have helped. I'm not talking about radically stopping the action -- just pausing a tiny but more at the end of certain scenes, instead of cutting away so quickly. That, and more use of establishing shots. My final qualm is with the musical score. It's incredibly generic and doesn't really change much to reflect the mood of the scenes. In fact, it sounds like the music for most modern video games. Pretty uninspired and almost like something I'd expect to hear from a stock library.We know this is left open for a sequel. However, with these flaws, it may not receive funding; And even if it did -- would it be worth it?