Lockout - (April 13th, 2012): PG-13
Distributor: FilmDistrict
Opening Weekend Box Office: #9 with $6,231,836
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $6,231,836
Gross Revenue: $6,231,836
Production Budget: $20 million
Directors: James Mather and Stephen St. Leger
As I mentioned in the “Short and Sweet” review, Guy Pearce isn’t exactly at the top of the list of cinematic action heroes, so in all likelihood the first thing that most members of Lockout’s intended male audience noticed in the trailer was Maggie Grace. If she at all looks familiar as a damsel-in-distress facing a seemingly hopeless situation, that is because one of the young actress’ best-known roles is as Liam Neeson’s daughter in Taken, so that association was sure to draw some audience interest. And speaking of 2008’s well-received and ridiculously successful French action film, some of that blockbuster’s style and quality was sure to carry-over to Lockout, as writer-producer Luc Besson also had significant involvement in this newest sci-fi entry. Based on premise alone, I’ll admit that my interest was piqued…prison breaks are absolutely nothing new, but transition the setting to outer space and place an undeniable badass against ruthless murderers, and you could be virtually guaranteed great and memorable action sequences and special effects, as well as a story that would surely borrow associations from the Die Hard formula. Regardless of a near non-existent marketing campaign that showed mass audiences a preview and then didn’t seem concerned with building awareness as the release-date approached, I did catch wind of some positive feedback (drawing Blade Runner comparisons) and found myself looking forward to some hardcore action.
Set in the year 2079, Lockout begins with an ex-CIA agent, known only as “Snow,” being interrogated for his role in an espionage assignment that went wrong and claimed the life of a senior government official; charged with treason, Snow (Guy Pearce) is sentenced to incarceration at MS One, a maximum security prison facility orbiting Earth. Just as Snow is being prepped for transport to MS One, First Daughter Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace) is engaging in a Goodwill mission aboard the space station concerning the ethics of keeping the prisoners in suspended animation. This noble intention which quickly devolves as one of the thoroughly psychotic prisoners Emilie chose to thaw out and interview, Hydell (Joseph Gilgun), disarms and kills one of Emilie’s Secret Service guards. Quickly releasing over five hundred violent offenders from cryostasis, Hydell reunites with his older brother Alex (Vincent Regan), and together, the two take control of the prison revolt, completely unaware of the fact that they hold the daughter of the President of the United States as a bargaining chip. Backed into a corner, the head of the Secret Service, Chief Scott Langral (Peter Stormare), approaches Snow and offers him a pardon and immediate release if can locate and rescue Emilie aboard MS One before the prisoners realize her true identity. Armed with a few high-tech weapons and years of government training, Snow accepts the offer , and together with Emilie, the two must survive and outwit seemingly insurmountable odds.
With as many movies as I have seen, you would think that I would be able to identify and shield myself from post-release cinematic propaganda that is presented to potential audiences as “praise,” but unfortunately, I admit to being completely suckered by the out-of-context accolades that described Lockout as “ridiculously entertaining”; the harsh reality is that nothing could be farther from the truth. This sci-fi action film misfires on almost every level, and the red flags appear almost instantaneously, whether that involves the cheap special effects used to bring the cinematic world to life (case-in-point being one of the fakest, most pointless motorcycle chases every produced), or the painfully stereotypic characters that inhabit this world. If you have ever seen an action film before, then I guarantee that you have run across the characters of Lockout before: Guy Pearce is the haunted protagonist who doesn’t play by anyone’s rules and yet isn’t above the occasional quip, while Maggie Grace is the self-righteous, ungrateful love interest who is eventually worn down and develops a romantic interest in the hero. The biggest question mark involves the villains, as the audience is never given any background or motivation to the surprisingly inept psychopaths, which may be a tall order considering that Vincent Regan and Joseph Gilgun speak with such strong Irish accents that they are near-impossible to understand; don’t give me wrong, these type of characters have definitely worked in the past and certainly would have potential in a different project, but without any depth or development, they serve as nothing more than recycled plot points. Now, as hard as it may be to believe, the aforementioned shortcomings are actually mild compared to gaps in logic and lack of coherent storytelling that plague Lockout.
Now, most sci-fi films do require a certain suspension of disbelief, and as a huge fan of the comic book genre, I have no problem with shutting my brain off from time to time, but the illogical narrative of Lockout produces so many questions without any effort at coherent answers that I have to cry foul. It doesn’t count as nitpicking if virtually nothing within Lockout makes sense and none of the several plot points that are introduced are ever fully explored; Snow’s treason is never explained, nor is Emilie’s apparent animosity towards her father or the fraternal dynamic between the film’s villains. Normally, the crowning achievement of scientific inaccuracies portrayed in outer space would go to Armageddon, but say what you will about Michael Bay, at least he tried to explain why there would be gravity in space or how a team of astronauts could land on a moving asteroid. Lockout may take place in the future, but that doesn’t grant a free-pass to make no attempt to explain how a space station could fall out of the sky for no reason, how frozen prisoners can reanimate and overtake guards almost instantly, how not one of the hundreds of male prisoners can identify Emilie as a female once her hair is cut and dyed with motor oil, or how Snow seems to carry every weapon and piece of medical equipment imaginable on his person. Add-in dull dialogue, no truly memorable or exciting action sequences, jumpy editing and direction, and a near two-hour running time, and it is a miracle that Open Road Films and FilmDistrict didn’t simply decide to cut their losses and make Lockout a straight-to-DVD release.
Well, when you consider the great disappearing act that was the marketing campaign for Lockout, is it really any surprise that the film debuted in ninth place with a paltry $6.2 million? With a $20 million budget, it is a little easier to understand how a film set in outer space could have sub-par special effects, but what I don’t understand is that it almost seems like everyone, from the filmmakers, to the marketers, to the distributors, went out of their way to ensure that Lockout lost money against a relatively small production cost. Luc Besson is well-known in the European markets, and yet, so far there is no indication that this action film will receive any kind of international presence outside of Canada, and so, when you combine that fact with the undeniably negative impact of harsh critical reaction and venomous word of mouth, financial loss is a virtual certainty. If I were to take one positive note from this cinematic train-wreck, it would be that neither Guy Pearce nor Maggie Grace has irreversibly damaged their reputations, as they did the best with what they were given…though their managers and agents do owe somebody an apology. Bottom line, nothing about Lockout is worth seeing, for your own pride and sanity, DO NOT waste your time or money.
Overall Recommendation: Very Low
