Lockout Review

Directors: James Mather and Stephen St. Ledger

Starring: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare, Lennie James, Tim Plester, Joseph Gilgun and Vincent Regan.

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Certificate: 15

Synopsis: When helping out an old friend on a top secret mission, Snow finds himself framed when the plan goes awry. Offered the chance at freedom when the futuristic space prison M.S. ONE is taken over by sadists and psychopaths, Snow must save the presidents daughter who is onboard for diplomatic talks.

First time writer/directors James Mather and Stephen St. Ledger have, with the help of French film-maker Luc Besson, assembled a terrific cast for their film debut. In the lead we have former NEIGHBOURS heartthrob Guy Pearce, who has been consistently brilliant, even in dross, since his move to the big league in 1997. Great performances in Hollywood hits L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and MEMENTO, have not put him off returning home to Oz for equally acclaimed roles in THE PROPOSITION and ANIMAL KINGDOM. He will also be seen in Ridley Scott’s much-anticipated ALIEN prequel PROMETHEUS this summer. Then there is Maggie Grace, the actress famed for her role in LOST as well as Liam Neeson’s annoying daughter in another Luc Besson production, TAKEN (she will also return for the sequel released 5th October).

Besson’s made a mint for Hollywood over the last decade or so, creating guilty pleasures like THE TRANSPORTER franchise, KISS OF THE DRAGON and, of course, TAKEN. Ass-kicking and brainless-but-enjoyable actioners, that are perfect to lose yourself in while munching your way through a mountain of popcorn. Now we have the LEON director teaming-up with a pair of British writers for an obvious homage to John Carpenter’s sardonic anti-hero Snake Plisken, so memorably played by the ace Kurt Russell in two cult-classics (okay maybe just the first film). So much so, they may well have called this ESCAPE FROM SPACE PRISON.

For those not familiar with the set-up for LOCKOUT, the science-fiction action-thriller is set in 2075. Pearce plays Snow, a C.I.A. covert operative, who when giving back-up to a friend and colleague, finds himself framed and his partner dead. The evidence pointing to Snow himself. Then we are transported, with Grace’s Emilie Warnock, the president’s daughter, on a trip to a futuristic space prison as a diplomatic ambassador. Her own curiosity regarding the rumoured effects hyper-sleep has on the mental state of convicts, leading her there also. Predictably, all hell breaks loose, Emilie finds herself in the hands of the convicts now in control of M.S. ONE, with only one man who just so happens to be on his way there anyway, forced help out in return for a pardon.

LOCKOUT is trash, but enjoyable trash at that. You know immediately what you are going to get and the film make no apologies for it. It does indeed keep the story firmly tongue-in-cheek with it’s preposterous plotting. Pearce channels Kurt Russell’s sarcastic, put downs to a tee, and appears to be having a ball, making the paper-thin plot forgettable, while both he and ourselves are having a blast. Grace is also in pretty decent form as the familiar damsel-in-distress stunner, so typically played in these types of films. 

Former EMMERDALE actor Joseph Gilgun, and star of Shane Meadows’ THIS IS ENGLAND movie and spin-off mini-series,  pops up in an almost unrecognisable role of sleazy Scottish psycho rapist Hydell; and almost steals the show from Pearce. Brit 300 actor Vincent Regan is great also, alongside Lennie James and Peter Stormare, in roles they could do in their sleep.

Overall, LOCKOUT is forgettable, but enjoyable tosh and does everything you expect it to. Some more-than-ropey effects, especially in the first half, still can’t spoil the entertainment on view. Perhaps in another director’s hands, a more polished script and a few extra million dollars, and we could have had a instant classic.  Instead, we have a two-star film rising to three if only for Guy Pearce’s witty lines, delivered with dead-pan relish. Maybe the rumoured ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake may just have been released under our noses. The only thing missing is the leading man in an eye-patch.

Fantastic fun but ultimately forgettable.

LOCKOUT blasts onto cinema screens from today!