Review of Lockout (2012) by Wes C — 01 Dec 2012

Someone tell this movie to SLOW DOWN!

The most positive thing I can say about "Lockout" is that it's a fun sci-fi movie to watch on a rainy day. However, it is a rushed, unfinished product, that is mostly, unambitious.

Guy Pearce stars as Snow, a convicted government agent who must free the President's daughter from a jail-broken space prison. The movie asks, "Why send one man?" their answer,"the (Space) Marines (who are trained for such a situation) might get the hostages killed. Snow, on the other hand, looks like a criminal, he can fit in , so he's more qualified. Not that any of this matters anyway, the hostages die halfway through the film, and the prisoners recognize that Snow isn't one of them from the gitgo.

Pearce, and the rest of the cast are stuck with a script that gives their characters nothing to do, but shout cliche action lines. The President's daughter, played by Maggie Grace, is arguably the best part of the film, but her character is as useful as bent paper clip. The always reliable Lennie James, says the same lines over and over again: "Can you hear me Snow?"/ "Snow? Are You there?" /"PIck up Snow!" The two main villains are as forgetful as they are menacing, and the movie's President gets my vote for the worst Commander-in-Chief in the history of cinema.

"Lockout" moves at a fast pace; too fast to comprehend who the characters are and why we should care about them. I assumed the movie wanted to jump into the action right from the get go, but it should have slowed down and left some room for character and plot development . The action is lame, the fight scenes are lame, the chase scenes are lamer, and the gun battles are uninspiring. Let's not forget about the movie's attempt at a plot twist which comes off as unnecessary and was thrown in hopes we were paying attention. It's not that we weren't paying attention, we just didn't remember to care.

This movie is a clunker, and was probably made for people with short attention spans. Heck, I'm sure there are sugar endued toddlers yelling for the movie to slow down too.

Grade: (My lowest yet) F.