Excellent, smart action film.

Dreadfully Boring

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Fairly non-stop violence and unoriginal. Guy Pearce looks good and does his best with the fairly limited material as does Maggie Grace. Most characters are little more than two dimensional place holders with very little personality - most blend into each other. The minor exceptions are the psychotic Hydell (Joseph Gilgun) and his controlling brother Alex (Vincent Regan) who are so nasty as to be unreal. As usual for a film about adventures in space the special effects are the main feature of the film. Sadly at times the artifice of the animators becomes visible and some parts seem a little clumsy. All this said it is a fairly enjoyable fast paced romp in space if you are at a loss for something to watch one rainy evening.

The only reason I didn't rate this higher than 7 stars is a few scenes, especially the ending could have been done with more action. That being said if you don't enjoy this, you've either never seen a real action movie or are too high and might to take it for what it is. This is a homage to the old days, when action movies knew what they were and embraced it, those with knowledge of the old days should recognize most homages instantly. Guy Pearce was a good lead for this, was he perfect? No I could think of a few guys who could do the role but it worked. Pearce stars as Snow...a chain smoking, hard nosed , wise cracking ex-special agent with one chance to regain his freedom. The movie is worth watching for the banter alone, it's constant and it's funny. There are some very nice action scenes, I expect no less from a guy like Luc Besson. However my main complaints are from a lack of brutality, an R rated movie centering around a prison riot should have plenty of that. My other complaint is the most memorable villain in the movie didn't get a very memorable send off. Overall I've watched this twice now and will again, take it for what it is. A homage to the old school action heroes, in that sense the film is near perfect

I remember seeing the trailer for this film a couple of times, I thought it looked like a good idea and concept, and the cast certainly drew me to a bit more as well, so I watched and hoped for something good. Basically in the year 2079, ex-CIA agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is arrested, falsely accused of treason against the United States and the murder of undercover agent Frank Armstrong (Miodrag Stevanovic), by chief of the secret service Scott Langral (Peter Stormare). Meanwhile Emilie Warnock (Taken's Maggie Grace), the daughter of the President of the United States, Jeff Warnock (Peter Hudson), is visiting MS One, a maximum security prison in outer space, to investigate claims of a huge corruption, that the prisoners, in stasis, could develop mental instability. Prison warden Barnes (Mark Tankersley) allows Warnock to interview deranged prisoner Hydell (Joseph Gilgun), but he manages to escape, subduing the staff in the central room and releasing all prisoners, including his brother Alex (This Is England's Vincent Regan) who becomes the riot leader. Veteran agent Harry Shaw (The Walking Dead's Lennie James) offers Snow his freedom if he agrees to go on a mission, to infiltrate MS One and rescue the president's daughter, once he gets there and he does find her, Emilie being idealistic refuses to leave without taking other hostages as well. Also starring Tim Plester as John James Mace and Jacky Ido as Hock. Pearce is alright as the brash and wisecracking maverick government operative, Grace does okay as the pretty humanitarian and daughter of the U.S. president, and Gilgun and Regan are chilling as the insane adversaries, this is a near predictable jail breakout story where criminals take over and cause havoc, but the prison being in outer space gives it a bit more of a claustrophobic element, and there are enough violence and gun shooting sequences to keep you engaged, a relatively fast-paced science- fiction action thriller. Worth watching!

Lockout (2012) starring Guy Pearce (LA Confidental, Memento). Pearce's is always a welcome face to see on-screen, but in Lockout he gets the rare opportunity to be funny. And he is, in the style of a deadpan, wisecracking '80s action hero- his character, Snow, is an agent who's falsely accused of murder along with something about the selling of state secrets. He's scheduled to spend a few decades in stasis on the experimental space jail MS One, the costs of which are being defrayed by a long-distance interstellar exploration company test-driving its cryosleep technology on a population no one's concerned about, even if it sometimes causes brain damage. Before Snow can be put under and ferried out to the big penitentiary in the sky, MS One crumbles with surprising ease after psychotic prisoner Hydell (Joseph Gilgun)) gets hold of a weapon. The other inmates are woken up and hostages are taken, one of them Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace), the president's daughter, who was there on a humanitarian mission.