Lockout (2012)

There are way too little science fiction movies coming out each year and as a big fan of them I’m always looking forward to new ones. Seeing an image of Lockout when I was preparing my Guy Pearce “Many Faces of…” post I noted it down as one to look out for. As usual I had no idea what it would be about and was looking forward to seeing it.

Pearce is Snow, who seems to be a guy who has watched each and every action movie made by the eighties. Every line he speaks will remind you of them, which makes his character cool, but unfortunately also has the effect of the viewer not caring much about him. At the beginning of the movie we see him being captured for the murder of an agent.
The society of Lockout has found a solution for dealing with dangerous criminals, which are now kept in hibernation on a space station. The president’s daughter (played by Maggie Grace of Lost fame) decides to visit the station and of course something has to go wrong (in this case, all the criminals waking up and taking control of the prison station). It won’t be a surprise that Snow is forced to go on a one man mission to rescue her.

Now I don’t mind switching of part of my brain to enjoy action movies, but this one had so many moments that didn’t make much sense that I really couldn’t enjoy what was going on. The story could have easily be set on earth and not much would be different. The bad guys were one-dimensional and forgettable, the chemistry between Pearce and Grace non-existent. There wasn’t much to like about Lockout, except for those one liners and the set design. If you are looking for a good prison drama I suggest you check out the excellent Cell 211 (even though that isn’t science fiction) instead of this one.

Score: 3