Wonderful character development!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to 1989's Lock Up. Plot In A Paragraph: With only 6 months left of his prison sentence inmate Frank Leone (Stallone) is transferred from minimum security to maximum security by a vindictive warden (Donald Sutherland) who has a score to settle.Not dramatic or brutal enough to be considered a serious drama, without enough action to call it an action flick, it's somewhere inbetween the two, but if you can ignore the implausibility of the plot, 'Lock Up' is very enjoyable. I rate this as one of the better non franchise movies in Sly's career. A rare occasion where Stallone appears not to have meddled with the script, and the movie seems to be the better for it. Sly is back in underdog territory, the role that suits him best. Donald Sutherland looks to be having a great time as a pantomime villain, and John Amos (an actor I always enjoy seeing on screen) is as reliable and solid as ever. Tom Sizemore (in his breakout role) steals every scene he is in as Dallas, and if his role had been a bit better written, and more fleshed out, he would have walked away with the full movie. Frank McRae again pops up (This is the last time) with Sly after 'FIST', 'Paradise Alley' and 'Rocky 2' The score by Bill Conti (who else) is again another winner. Especially during the football match.

The movie surrounds the character Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) who is forced into another prison against his will and then bizarre and crazy things starts to happen and he need to help his friends and himself from trouble. The so called warden (Donald Sutherland) makes the prison life a living hell for Frank and it gets harder and harder to survive in prison. Now I have heard so many times people complaining about Stallone's acting abilities but I think he is such an underrated actor and I do not think he deserves all the crap he's gotten through the years and this movie sure proves that he can make the audience get emotions and care for his character (great acting!). When you get emotions towards the good guys and when you feel hatred towards the bad guys you know you've made a great movie. The movie takes the viewer on a wild journey and you're on your edge of your seat almost throughout the whole movie. The movie caught my interest immediately when I saw that Stallone and director John Flynn (who directed one of my favorite horror flicks "Brainscan")was involved. There's just something about prison movies in general, they almost never disappoint you. This is by far one of Stallone's best performances ever if you ask me. This movie gets an excellent rating of 10/10 stars from me.

Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) is in minimum security lock up with 6 months left and even allowed out into the world with Melissa (Darlanne Fluegel). He gets transferred to maximum security Gateway by vindictive warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland). He had escaped Drumgoole's prison before and made him a laughing stock. Captain Meissner (John Amos) is his hardnosed guard. Guard Braden is more by the book. Dallas (Tom Sizemore) is an overly helpful prisoner. Eclipse manages the motorpool. Prison strongman Chink Weber is gunning for Frank.The setup is questionable. I don't get how a guy who escaped once could possibly be slated for release. The only way is to do a deal with the D.A. probably as a whistleblower against Drumgoole. The short exchange in the movie seems to suggest that and then the question becomes how does Drumgoole still have a job? The explanation for Frank's situation is so short that it feels like the movie would rather ignore it.The movie is trying to be gritty but parts of it seems wrong. At times, this feels more like a Rocky movie. There's even a musical montage of them fixing up a hot rod. It's completely out of place. There are other moments like teaching First Base how to drive. Again it's trying to be heart warming which is ill-fitting for the premise. Some of it works better but there are too many situations that don't match the expected tense grittiness. The dialog is also wrong. First Base actually uses the word 'jive'. The movie has a few too many clunky things going on.

Like Shawshank, but less touching and more muscles and darker.It hits the right notes, but the warden seems a bit too sadistic. How could such a tyrant ever get to be in a position of authority in cahoots with a whole bunch of guards and prisoners without ever being found out? This makes the whole thing seem a bit far fetched, which it is, but hey, that's entertainment.Otherwise a good ride. The ending could have been better - he should have broken back into his cell instead and gone "Huh? What's all the fuss about?". That would have been more awesome than the over the top scene at the end which would have landed him with a few more years jail time in reality!Probably Sly's best. But that ain't saying much.