Lockout

Starring: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, Peter Stormare
Directed by: James Mather, Stephen St. Leger
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Thriller, Action, Science Fiction
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: When the President's daughter (Maggie Grace) is taken prisoner on board a maximum security prison in space, an ex-agent (Guy Pearce) is offered his freedom if he can rescue her.

Review:

Tim: Lockout is definitely a "B" movie, but one that is not wholly unenjoyable. The movie feels rushed and cheap, but a few big strengths save it from a much worse fate. While I thought the film was decent, this is certainly not a great movie. It's mindless entertainment, though, which is not always bad.

I probably would have liked this film significantly less without the presence of Guy Pearce. I really like Pearce as an actor, and he is quite good in this role. He makes Snow this cocky, hilarious jerk. The writing is quite good, as Snow has multiple humorous lines throughout the film. It's always fun to watch a character who just does not care about anyone around him, what they think, or what they could do to him. Pearce plays him perfectly- his abrupt, constantly attacking manner is funny, but it's Pearce's comedic timing that makes this such an enjoyable character to watch. Now, I'm not suggesting Pearce delivered a perfect performance- he's in a pretty silly movie, and his role suffers some as a result. There were a few times when Pearce felt a bit over-the-top to me, which hurt those scenes. Still, for the most part, Pearce raises the whole movie with his fun performance, and it's the biggest reason to see this movie.

Maggie Grace is pretty good here. I like Grace because of her time on "Lost", but I have rarely been impressed with her acting ability. While she wasn't great here, she kept the bad moments to a minimum. While I did not love her performance, I didn't have too many criticisms of it. I also loved seeing Lennie James here- this guy is terrific, and I really hope he gets more opportunities to show off his talent. Finally, I thought Peter Stormare came across as a definite "B" movie actor, and gave a forced, awkward performance.

I love the idea of a guy trying to infiltrate a prison in outer space. The idea is ridiculous, but it's potentially a lot of fun. This does, unfortunately, make the film feel like it tries too hard to be Escape From New York, but overall, the idea is fun ("B" movie fun, but still fun). The special effects are average- there's certainly not much here that inspires or wows you. The lackluster visual effects definitely contribute to the perception that this is a "cheap" movie with too small a budget. Still, for a movie this size, the film looks fine.

There's not much that really excites you about the story. It's fairly redundant and suffers from a number of action/sci-fi cliches. It's very often your typical break-someone-out-of-prison type movie. I wouldn't say that anything about the story was especially awful, it just came across as average. That just about sums up the whole film- nothing really great, nothing especially terrible, just an overall average movie.

I really can't speak too highly about this film, although I think it's worth seeing for Pearce's fun, energetic performance. He clearly has fun with the role, despite the average quality of everything around him. Because of him, I found myself enjoying this movie more than I expected. Lockout is certainly not a great film, but it's a decently entertaining one.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Taken, Escape From New York, Pitch Black, The Road