Lockout is a movie I loved the hell out of, the DVD isn't out until the end of August here and I know it's no longer in cinemas but a movie like this I think raises really interesting things about critics and personal taste and stuff which is why I got hold of a copy and decided to sit down and give it a reviewing. Enjoy!
Lockout is one of those movies that I always feel critics just don't... get. I hate to talk about this kind of stuff because I'm not a professional critic so saying I'm anything more than a viewer is pushing it, but just taking myself away from the picture just to make a point for a moment.
Mainstream critics can seemingly never appreciate a movie on simple entertainment levels - it's hard to articulate what I mean because I'm not talking about so bad it's good territory but more just middle of the road stuff, it isn't really that good but it isn't bad either, it's just entertaining but critics often ignore that or refuse to accept that if the story around it is a bit weak or the acting is dodgy and so on - even if that is kind of the point, not every film is trying to be the King's Speech. I mean I say I'm a fan of 'bad movies' but I think I actually throw the term 'bad movie' around a little too easily, a lot of 'schlock cinema' is still technically competent and still has like a story and characters, so that means that to a certain extent, it can't be bad, it can be bad on an entertainment kind of sense, but as an actual film it still works. I mean you can't just recreate a piece of grindhouse honestly with the shrapnel down the side of your sofa and your home video camera, no matter what anyone tells you, which to me says that at least on some level that really says something and that really is the same for Lockout. SEGUE. It's entertaining, that is its job pretty much full stop, yes there are flaws but I don't think they outweigh the entertainment value - and if you came here looking for the next Raging Bull, then what the fuck are you doing? At the same time I fucking hate saying that because your more average cinemagoers take that as validation to fall out with more mainstream critics because they'll just swallow whatever the theatre puts out using 'entertaining' as a defense for a bad movie - I'm not saying that if a movie is genuinely bad (and not so bad it's good territory still) and you were entertained that it is now a good movie, I think the movie itself still has to be average or better to begin with and that pretty much sums up my feelings about Lockout. Okay with that out of the way, let's review the thing.
Set in 2079 (does it bug you when movies set in the future give themselves a date? I know Lockout isn't some timeless classic so maybe in seventy years no one will even remember this movie...and wow I'll probably be long dead, that is kind of scary... anyway but if anyone does happen to watch the movie then, it becomes dated, you say something like 'in the near future', the movie will end up looking dated but will still be in effect timeless), our hero is Snow an ex-cia agent come chain smoker come 80's/90's action hero. He begins the film in an interrogation by the secret service/cia after a deal he is part of goes wrong, he is surrounded by bodies and is in charge of a mysterious suitcase - framed for the murder of Frank from the CIA. Snow's partner is seemingly killed in the most pathetic of ways and while all this is going on the gorgeous Maggie Grace who plays the Presidents daughter is flying off to the actual plot of the movie.
MSOne is basically the best prison in the entire world (is that the right expression if it's in space?) and every country wants a piece and is happy to bend over for the US to get space for their prisoners. The presidents daughter, Emilie Warnock, is basically on her way there to check out the whole stasis thing, because apparently it has less than satisfactory side effects... there is also a myth surrounding the station that the whole prison thing is just a front and they are actually experimenting on the prisoners in an attempt to make it possible for humans to travel into deep space. And it is all going so well until the black guy screws it all up... racism? Many contrivances and bad writing later, MSOne has been taken over by the prisoners and only Snow can stop them and save the presidents daughter...for some reason. But seriously, how does no one in that facility know that Emilie is the presents daughter, that is just ridiculous
The movie is absolutely hilarious, Snow's witty dialogue is just incredible - he is just an excellent character, I wish he could get his own series. Snow isn't the only great character, I'm a massive Joseph Gilgun fan - and that has nothing to do with Misfits - so I really enjoyed his performance, I mean he basically plays the same character he always does but this time with an added air of menace, awesome! Plus Grace and Pearce have incredible chemistry, I normally find characters like Emilie annoying but when she is played off from Snow with this great chemistry it's really quite charming even if I'm not entirely sure the narrative really convinced me they fancied one another by the end of the film.
The action is so incredibly visceral, well choreographed, shot and directed and just all out fucking mental. So much imagination must have gone into these fight scenes, they are basic scenes made extremely stylish. People punch, throw and use everything around them and this is happening within the opening moments of the film. And this film just has everything, space battles, antigrav fist fights, guns, chases, explosions - you name it. There is just something spectacular about every action sequence, whether it the big space battles, the prison riot or even just a one on one punch up, there is just this big flashy spectacleness to all the action that would make this movie feel more in place in a comicbook and it's terrific fun.
Still, visually Lockout is beautiful...in its own sort of way, the opening portion of the film seems straight out of a neonoir even if the city looks awkwardly green screened and it does feel kind of odd that 2079 is basically 2012 but with huge airships, a bunker for the Oval and unimotorcycles but not a whole lot else - the president has even gone back to a fat, balding white man (satirical?), but I digged the style nonetheless. It's a cool movie, even if it ain't that pretty.
You know I really hate the real liberal use of scientific accuracy for space, everytime space is in anything it's the equivalent of making a movie about the sea where everyone chats at the bottom of the ocean - there is no sound in space, space is a vacuum, bodies do a lot more than freeze, for fucks sake. Shit like this always pulls me right out of a movie. Yes, nitpicking, even I didn't nitpick I'd have hardly anything to complain about.
So do I recommend it? Lockout isn't a masterpiece, it isn't a film that will change the world, but in terms of entertainment value it's bloody perfect and in terms of general value, this is a bloody great movie that you all should check out.
2 comments:
Snow’s dialog was the best part of the film. A lot of the action scenes were pretty good the whole movie was punctuated with scenes that were obviously CGI. You did hit the nail on the head when you said the movie basically did its job just not very effectively. It was supposed to entertain and although I was not on the edge of my seat It did just that. My wife on the other hand, if given the chance, would trade me for Pearce in a heart beat. She is the one who actually put it in our queue on our Blockbuster at Home account. I say as long as I get unlimited rentals she can have whatever sub par movies with Pearson in them she wants. She just better not get mad when she realizes we’re watching Tomb Raider next week.
So sorry I missed your comment, Anon! It doesn't notify me of comments and it is so rare that people drop one. Your comment gave me a big laugh, haha. Haha, well she can't complain!
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