2012: The Year in Film: "Lockout" Review

It's been a while since you've read my drivel, but there are several posts currently under construction, I'll have you know. I've been busy being a quasi-adult and reading lots of Batman. Noh8. First, an aside on movie etiquette: some dude brought in a probably 4-6 year old child to see this movie. Questionable parenting aside (it's rated PG-13..), if your child is incapable of behaving properly in a movie, WHY ARE YOU BRINGING HIM INTO A MOVIE?!? I feel dude's pain, believe me.. dad/uncle/male companion was probably 26 and wanted to check out a fun action movie, probably enjoy his Friday.. but c'mon, man. You don't live in a vacuum. When your child is babbling on at full volume throughout the movie you're having an adverse impact on everyone else and their enjoyment of the flick. I know that it's 2012 and no one gives a shit about anyone else and what's going on with them anymore, but let's try to display a bare minimum of consideration and human decency, shall we? I really think that movie theaters and restaurants could be vastly improved by having kid-free theaters/sections.

Several initial thoughts on "Lockout" before we actually start talking about "Lockout".. first, Guy Pearce is awesome. He has been consistently working for going on 20 years now, but somehow has never made the leap to full-on movie star. After L.A. Confidential and Memento, you'd have thought that he'd have moved on to a Christian Bale type career. Maybe he didn't want it, maybe he made some bad calls, who knows, but he's only 45, and between "Lockout" and this summer's "Prometheus", he may finally be poised to make the leap. In addition, I miss '90's-style action. From 1985-1997 or so there were no shortage of legitimately awesome action flicks that depended on the charisma of their stars and harrowing situations to make fun, extremely watchable flicks. A combination of the Matrix and super hero movies did two things to action: first, emphasized FX and camera tricks, and second: caused action flicks starring a normal human protagonist to have to up the ante, and everyone became an invincible master gymnast and killing machine. John McClane is not a super hero or kung-fu master. He's a plucky, tough-ass dude. He's not jumping into a room and beating up 17 people a la Neo. So let's jump into "Lockout".. it's somewhat hard to review a flick like this, because one must consider the ambition and intention of the filmmakers involved. No one involved with, or seeing "Lockout" has any illusions about what they are doing. They aren't trying to win an Oscar, they are trying to create a fun action flick.. so keep that in mind.

So the year is 2079 and a major international corporation has funded the construction of an orbital maximum security prison to house the world's most dangerous and deadly prison, MS1. It is, of course, impregnable, impossible to escape from and also completely safe. The President's daughter (Maggie Grace) is part of a humanitarian agency seeking to investigate the conditions on MS1 and travels to the prison on a factfinding mission. CIA agent Snow (Pearce) after a mission gone bad, finds himself of the wrong side of the law. When things go wrong on MS1, Snow finds himself being asked to undertake the suicide mission of rescuing the President's daughter. There are various secrets related to Snow's failed mission and things are not all they seem on MS1 as well.

So basically, the plot is "Die Hard" meets "Escape from NY", in outer space. Our hero finds himself outgunned and outmatched, with minimal chance of escape and a smaller chance of survival. These sort of bare bones, action movies for action's sake are pretty much entirely dependent on their star and cast. What separates Die Hard and the Rock from various Jean Claude Van Damme, John Cena and Steven Segal straight to DVD numbers (besides a solid story) is the charisma of the talent involved. Top-notch actors can turn the absurd into the enjoyable. Lucky for us, Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace give it their all. Pearce is one of the most underrated actors working today, and has shown remarkable range in his career.. but here he pulls out his inner badass. He brings a certain callous devil-may-care attitude and quip-filled badassery, in the best tradition of John McClane and Wolverine, Snow is an antisocial, stand-offish, smug asshole who also happens to be very, very, very good at what he does.



Luc Besson, the man responsible for "Leon", "The 5th Element", "Taken" and a myriad of other action movies over the last 20 years, produced, and you can tell. This is a slick, well-done flick that looks great and is a lot of fun if full of plot holes. Maggie Grace, who I didn't think was particularly strong in either "LOST" or "Taken", shines here and provides an effective foil, companion and moral compass for our reluctant hero. Longtime "That Guy" Vincent Regan (I recognized him as the Captain from "300") is strong as one of the inmate leaders, and newcomer Joseph Gilgun is downright disturbing as his psycho brother. The stakes are sufficiently high, everything makes just enough sense, and above all, Pearce is a joy to watch. This flick is about 100 minutes long but it feels like 40 minutes tops. A damn good time at the movies. Don't go in expecting "Schindler's List", but if you want to see some people get their asses kicked and laugh at ridiculous deadpan one-liners, check it out. It's a bit too derivative (it really is Die Hard meets Escape from NY in space..) and reliant on tropes to be great, and if the cast hadn't sold it it might not be good at all, but as is, a strong, extremely watchable action flick. I had a good time.

7/10.