Lockout

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, CIA agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is accused of killing a colleague in cold blood. Without even a chance to prove his innocence, Snow is sentenced to thirty years in prison on MS One. There, 50 miles above the earth, the criminals serve their sentence in an artificial deep sleep. To investigate whether there are any unpleasant side effects, Emilie (Maggie Grace), the daughter of the US President, flies to the space prison. And of course, a devastating accident occurs, causing all the prisoners to awaken from their deep sleep and take control of the MS One. For Snow, who is still on Earth awaiting transport to the prison, this is his big chance, as he is offered an immediate pardon by the US government should he succeed in freeing the president's daughter from the occupied space station. It's an almost impossible mission that Snow faces with merciless toughness and extreme coolness...

Lockout is the directorial debut of directing duo Stephen St. Leger and James Mather, who simply call themselves Saint and Mather for short. A short film brought the pair to Luc Besson's attention and it was quickly decided that they would work together to get the duo's first feature film off the ground. Together the three men wrote the script, in which they borrowed some ideas quite obviously from films like The Rattlesnake or Fortress.

The first minutes promise a very entertaining action thriller. The opening sequence, in which Snow is interrogated in a rather painful manner by CIA hardliner Langral (Peter Stomare), while commenting extremely casually on the beatings of Langral's henchmen, is really a lot of fun. However, a certain disillusionment soon sets in. The opening action sequence, in which a framed Snow flees from his pursuers through a futuristic metropolis, startles with some almost comically bad special effects that would look better in any computer game. Granted, some of the later effects are much better done, but this still very trashy looking debut leaves us hoping for little good.

And this impression is then confirmed again and again. One-dimensional characters, where Maggie Grace stands out particularly negatively, clichéd dialogues and a story that could have been summarized on a postage stamp, clearly tarnish the entertainment value of the action film. Connoisseurs of the genre might feel reminded of 80s video store merchandise again and again. This can be fun for some and indeed there are some moments that are very amusing and also exciting. But then the overall picture is rather disappointing and would really be much better off as a home movie premiere.

Guy Pearce has clearly had fun with his role as a cool action hero. And it's his casual acting that saves the film from falling completely into irrelevance and makes it genuinely entertaining in many a scene. But all in all, fans of futuristic action thrillers can save themselves the trip to the cinema and rather wait for the DVD release, which can then be enjoyed accordingly with some mates and even more beers. Only very conditionally worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp