Review of Lockout (2012) by Matthew H — 28 Jun 2016

When I saw the trailer for Lockout back in 2012, I thought, "oh, here we go again. Another CGI, messy, violent action movie with one liners and bad acting." Lockout proved a little bit of that to be true, but still exceeded my expectations.

Lockout is a fun movie for a party night or a couple of bros hanging out, but its not one to take your girlfriend to---- unless she can take that kind of stuff!--- and is not for your grandma either. It mixes a smart, but somewhat sluggish script, with a surprisingly well-thought out story line, and gets a solid B Actioner; but this movie thinks too highly of itself for what it is. Sometimes, it caves into itself, overstepping its boundaries, and the product is an adrenaline rush: the bad kind. More like a kid running around after having too much candy. Again, this is only at parts of it. Most of the movie is decent.

As awesome as ever, this movie has Guy Pierce, who has proved his talents as a character actor over and over again. From playing a geeky, by-the-books cop in L.A. Confidential, to an Irish evil-doer who wants to destroy the world in Iron Man 3. Now, he plays a bad-ass, flirty, lets-get-this-over-with man who was wrongfully convicted of Espionage against the U.S. He also needs a shave He's offered his freedom by rescuing the president's daughter from a prison she was visiting that got taken over by the prisoners. Trouble arises when he gets there, obviously, since this is a MOVIE, and nothing is simple and/or seems to go right.

I did, in fact, very much like one of the final scenes where they explained what happened to the whereabouts of the "package" that contained valuable information; the thing that got him arrested in the first place. I'm not gonna spoil it too much, but the way the writers played up the scene and its symbols was very creative. To find out what the hell I'm talking about, you'll have to see the movie (if you haven't already)! Overall, this movie is definitely worth a watch. Oh, and did I mention it takes place in 2079?