Guy Pearce finds himself facing an entire prison of deranged inmates in a popcorn movie that could well have been pitched as Escape From New York in space. But with the addition of two angry Scotsmen and the removal of a great deal of common sense (that is not to say that Escape From New York bubbled over with common sense to begin with).
In place of common sense what we do have are plenty of coincidences and a truly dramatic amount of incompetence displayed by more or less all of the characters in the film, which whittles away at the narrative drive of what could have been a decent B movie elevated by Pearce’s wisecracking, disgraced secret agent.
The President’s daughter is caught up in a prison siege on an experimental station orbiting the Earth, while on a humanitarian visit to establish any possible side effects the prisoners might suffer after spending their incarcerations in some sort of cryo sleep. The inmate the authorities choose for her interview is pure mental in his local vernacular and is in no way a good advertisement for the process being tested. The interview does not go well and soon hundreds of prisoners are freed, taking control of the prison but fortunately most of them are content to mill around in a large holding area while a small group led by the other angry Scot sets about botching the hostage negotiations.
From the knuckle popping and eardrum bothering opening interrogation it seems that there will be some deeper conspiracy at play and while there are some shenanigans they are nowhere near as interesting as they could have been in a more considered script as much of what happens, happens more or less for the sake of it. Inadvertent gunfire, people looking out just the right window, having a space station only one person knows how to drive, the list goes on into spoiler territory best avoided.
Pearce makes a refreshing action hero however, his almost self destructive quippery rarely grating, although it seems pathological at times. Most of the supporting players do not fare so well. Maggie Grace does a decent job of appearing privileged but that is all that is required of her. Peter Stormare wobbles between genuinely threatening and pantomime. And of the two angry Scots only the English one, Joseph Gilgun gets much to do and he does turn in a typically manic performance.
The quality of the special effects are variable to say the least, an early Earth based bike chase is woeful but the visuals improve once the action moves beyond the atmosphere and the Star Wars inspired finale is actually quite impressive.
Lockout is a difficult film to recommend but if you are a fan of Pearce or smart aleck man on a mission flicks you may not be too disappointed. And if by some miracle Lockout makes enough money to warrant a sequel I will be happy to attend on the off chance he finds himself in a better film.
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