Film Review: LOCKOUT (2012)

Directors: James Mather, & Stephen St. Leger
Writers: James Mather, Stephen St. Leger & Luc Besson
Running time: 92 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Thriller/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 20^th April 2012

Watched on Sky+ Friday 29^th March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This film got some really bad press on release and that’s probably why I decided to watch it. Well, that plus the fact its set in space with guns and all the stuff we boy like right? Ok, I’ll try to be calm now; I guess expectations were a little too high for this one but I decided it was worth the risk anyway. I must say it didn’t enthral me as much as I thought it would; exciting in parts, but ultimately… I guess I should tell you that part after this very brief summary.

When the President of the USA’s daughter, Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace) is trapped on an orbiting high security prison where the inmates have taken control, there’s only one man to send it to rescue her. He is the recently unfairly convicted Snow (Guy Pearce). He has an ulterior motive and that is that the only man who has evidence that will absolve him is being kept at the same prison. He lands on the station and makes contact with Emilie, who is more concerned with getting the rest of the hostages safe. But it’s not long before the prisoners, led by Alex (Vincent Regan) and his psychotic brother, Hydell (Joseph Gilgun) realise jus who she is and the hunt is on! Add to the mix the good cop, Harry Shaw (Lennie James) and the bad cop Scott Langral (Peter Stormare) and a great game of cat and mouse aboard an orbiting space prison.

Whilst watching this I had a nagging feeling I had seen it all before… and I had! It’s ‘Escape From New York’ set is space! The trouble is, it’s not as good as ‘Escape From New York’ despite being set in space. It’s well put together with the exception of the CGI, which looked pretty ropy particularly at the beginning of the film. Performance-wise, well everyone was ok with nobody particularly standing out. I did think Guy Pearce does need to have a word with his agent though, he’s much better than this. Sadly I found it all a little too predictable and although it did have some exciting moments, it didn’t really satisfy.

SteelMonster’s verdict: NOT RECOMMENDED

My score: 5.2/10.

IMDb Score: 6.1/10 (based on 49,729 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1592525/

MetaScore: 48/100: (Based on 32 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 38/100 (based on 123 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 46/100 (based on 160,626 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lockout_2012/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Langral: Again, what happened in that hotel room?
Snow: Oh, it was coupon night and I was trampolining your wife.
[Snow is punched in the face]
Langral: You're a real comedian aren't you, Snow?
Snow: Well I guess that's why they call it the punch line.
[Snow is punched again]
Langral: You don't like me, do you?
Snow: Don't flatter yourself. I don't like anybody.
Langral: With that attitude, I can see why nobody likes you.
Snow: Oh, come on. People love me. Just ask your wife.
[Snow is punched again]

Snow: Don't get me wrong. It's a dream vacation. I mean, I load up. I go into space. I get inside the maximum-security nuthouse. Save the President's daughter, if she's not dead already. Get past all the psychos who've just woken up. I'm thrilled that you would think of me.

Snow: Ok, see here on the map?
Emilie Warnock: Yeah.
Snow: That's where the pod is. You get in it, you fly away. The good guys will come and get you, ok?
Emilie Warnock: On my own?
Snow: You're a big girl, right? Here's an apple and a gun. Don't talk to strangers, shoot them.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lockoutmovie
Official Site: http://www.lockoutfilm.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: ANAMORPH (2007)

Co-writer/Director: Henry Miller
Running time: 99 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Netherlands release date: 5th August 2008

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 12th September 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

If we look up the word ‘Anamorphosis’, from which the title of this film was derived, we get the following definition:

Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. “Ana – morphosis” comes from the Greek words meaning “formed again.” (Source: Wikipedia)

So it’s basically a piece of artwork that is painted in such a way that if viewed from a particular point it will make a complete picture. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn’t get the complete picture when putting this rather poor effort together.

A troubled cop, Stan Aubray, is investigating a series of murders that are thought to be copy-cats of a killer called “Uncle Eddie” whose case he investigated and was thought to have been killed five years previous. He is helped by his partner, Carl Uffner and art expert, Blair Collet. The art expert is needed because the killer places all of his victims in poses that depict works of art. I really can’t say much more about this one, that is the basic premise of the movie.

As I said earlier I found this a rather poor effort. I usually like the work of Willem Dafoe, but he must have seen something in the script we didn’t see on the screen, because it is very poor. The pacing is way too slow and the dialogue, with great long pauses, is pretty dire. I did like the performance of Peter Stormare as Blair Collet; he was the one bright point in this movie. I will give honourable mentions to Willem Dafoe as Stan Aubray and Scott Speedman as Carl Uffner just for making the effort and turning up to make it.

I usually enjoy a good serial killer movie, but this one is certainly not going to feature in any of my end of year awards… unless I do a top ten worst of the year! Over all, very poor and definitely NOT recommended.

My score: 3.7/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0497323/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdblink/vi4120773657/